Monday's Menu

Well, last week I gave you the Pesto recipe that we used in the Chick's meal. This week is what we needed it for.

The Chick informed me that she wished to make Panini's. I was thrown for a loop. I've never even eaten a panini, much less made one. And to be honest I had kind of decided it was some made up term for a new Hot Pockets sandwich line.

But apparently, I am less cultured than I thought. Because there were a ton of recipes for the things. So, if it was made up (and I'm still not sure it wasn't), then it must of caught on.

The first thing I did was make a foccacia bread. But this time, since I knew had to be quartered, I thought I'd put it in a square pan. That would have been fine but an 8 x 8 square is much too small for my recipe and my foccacia turned out rather thick. Like too thick. So next time, I'll go ahead and spread it out on a pan or put it in a much larger square pan.

Then we cooked up some chicken strips.

We spread pesto on the halved bread quarters, layered chicken on top, and then added Monterey Jack cheese.
You slap on the top and grill 'em till they're warmed all through and the cheese is melted. I don't have a panini grill so I just used my fake George Foreman grill (as suggested by a recipe commenter who did the same) and it worked wonderfully. They were really good and, as I said, the only problem was that the bread was too thick. These are also super fast, as long as the bread is already ready already.

Hope you get to enjoy some!

Chicken Pesto Paninis (original recipe here)

1 focaccia bread, quartered
1/2 cup basil pesto
1 cup diced, cooked chicken
1/4 cup diced red onion
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Preheat a panini grill.
Slice each quarter of bread in half horizontally. Spread each half with pesto. Layer bottom halves with equal amounts chicken, onion, and cheese. Top with remaining bread halves to form 4 sandwiches.
Grill paninis 5 minutes or until bread is golden brown and cheese is melted.