Hot sandwiches or similar dishes are made in almost all countries, but everywhere they take on a unique look. Some versions have the filling wrapped in a tortilla or placed between layers of it. Others resemble mini-pizzas. Sandwiches can be closed or open; sometimes their name depends on the filling (cheeseburger, hot dog). Italians cook panini. These are a kind of sandwiches that are fried under pressure. The basis is usually ciabatta, focaccia or similar Italian bread, but it can be replaced with an ordinary loaf. The ability to combine different products to make the filling allows you to make panini with different flavors. Some of them can replace breakfast or a snack, others can be served with tea or coffee as a dessert. All of these sandwiches can be made in a regular kitchen, even if you don't have a special panini press at home.
Cooking features
To prepare delicious panini at home, you need to know a few subtleties.
- Panini bread should not be sliced too thin. Some Italian women prefer to cut it lengthwise rather than across. If you are using a bun cut in half to make panini and plan to cook it in the oven or in a frying pan, it is recommended to place the pieces with the convex side inward so that the sandwiches do not roll around in the pan and fry evenly.
- Most often, cheese is added to panini, which glues both parts of the bread, turning the panini into a single whole, but there are recipes that do not include the use of this ingredient.
- For juiciness, you can add herbs and vegetables to the filling, but there should not be too many of them, otherwise the bread will become soggy. This also applies to adding sauce.
- Before assembling the sandwich, the inside of the pieces of bread is coated with a thin layer of olive oil. This can be done conveniently using a pastry brush.
- The most convenient way to make panini is in an electric sandwich maker. It makes sandwiches more appetizing, since the inside of the sandwich maker has a corrugated surface. You can even buy a special panini press at culinary stores. But this is worth doing only if you prepare Italian sandwiches often.
- If you are using a sandwich maker to make panini, it is recommended that you preheat it. The panini will fry on both sides at once, so there is no need to turn them over during cooking.
- Remove the panini from the pan carefully as the inside can be very hot. Do not use a knife to avoid scratching the coating of the sandwich maker's heating panels.
- If you don't have a special panini fryer, sandwiches can be pressed down with a cast iron skillet, a pot of water, or a brick wrapped in foil.
When preparing panini, you can show your imagination by choosing different types of bread and cheese, changing the composition of the filling, adding different sauces and seasonings. Each time this dish can be unique.
Panini: 3 simple recipes for Italian sandwiches
Paninis are the same sandwiches, only even cooler. They are eaten not only by Italians, but also by a lot of people around the world. The same KFC has panini, and they probably serve it in other establishments too. But if large chains use special equipment to prepare these sandwiches (panini presses), then the average dude needs to be smart, otherwise they will end up with ordinary, unremarkable sandwiches.
So how to make panini at home? And why is it pleasant to cook them in our realities? Let's answer the last question first. To make panini, you don't need special sandwich bread, which you won't find in every store. You can use loaves, regular bread, or any thing that can be called bread and is more or less dense. The Italians themselves don’t really worry about this and use what they have at hand at a particular moment. So if you see the word “bread” in a recipe, you can use whatever you like.
Classic
Ham and cheese are our everything. And it doesn't get any easier than a ham and cheese panini. How to do? We said it's very simple!
Ingredients:
– 2 pieces of bread; – 2 pieces of cheese (use hard); – 2 pieces of ham; – fresh basil; – paprika; - salt;
- pepper.
Preparation:
1. Place ham and basil (a couple of leaves) on a layer of bread, sprinkle with paprika, finish with cheese and pepper, and salt. Then add the final layer of bread. 2. Fry in a frying pan until golden brown.
3. Panini is ready!
Extremely important tip: In fact, the panini should always be flattened. But without a waffle iron or sandwich maker, this is not easy to achieve. That’s why we share our culinary wisdom with you. Listen carefully! When you place your panini in the pan, place some kind of weight on it. For example, a pan of water. I fried it on one side (2-4 minutes) and turned it over to the other. Fair and even necessary for all the recipes in the collection.
Pear panini
We haven’t eaten enough, let’s try another recipe. This time we will cook for two people.
Ingredients:
– 4 slices of bread; – a tablespoon of mustard; – 6 slices of ham; – 1 pear (peeled and sliced thinly); – a cup of grated cheese (use any cheese, but we recommend mozzarella); – 2 pinches of black pepper;
– 1 tablespoon margarine.
Preparation:
1. Coat the bread with mustard. Not on each side, of course. Then we put a layer of three slices of ham, half of our pear, a pinch of black pepper and half of cheese. 2. Cover our structure with the last piece of bread and coat the panini with a little margarine on the outer sides.
3. Heat the pan and cook over medium heat until golden brown. Don't forget to press down with a load!
Three meats
If you want more meat and less vegetables.
Ingredients:
– 4 slices of bread; – red pepper (sweet); – 4 slices of ham; – 12 slices of salami (cut into circles); – 8 pieces of chicken breast (cook it in advance); - olive oil;
- salt and pepper.
Preparation:
1. Fry the red pepper in a frying pan and chop it. 2. Rub the bread with olive oil and place a layer of 2 slices of ham, 6 slices of salami and 4 pieces of chicken breast (they should be small) on our bread base. 3. We complete the design with red pepper and spices.
4. Fry our panini until golden brown.
Even more important advice! As you noticed, we don't really use sauces when making paninis. Some dudes put it on Italian sandwiches before frying, which is very harmful to both the taste and the sauces themselves. Down with this obscurantism, use sauces after cooking! This is how they enrich the flavor of the panini, rather than turning into a terrible mess. In addition, if you adhere to our strategy, the crust of the bread will be crispy (this is due to the absence of excess liquid).
Bon appetit, buddy!
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Panini with cheese and ham
Compound:
- ciabatta – 100 g;
- cheese – 40 g;
- ham – 40 g;
- fresh basil - 4 leaves;
- ground paprika - to taste;
- olive oil - as needed.
Cooking method:
- Cut the Italian bread in half so that you get two flat pieces of bread. If your ciabatta is large, you can cut it crosswise into pieces 1–1.5 cm thick.
- Cut the ham and cheese into thin slices.
- Brush both sides of the bread with olive oil.
- Place ham on one piece of ciabatta, sprinkle with paprika, and place basil leaves on top.
- Place slices of cheese on top. Cover with the second piece of bread.
- Preheat the grill pan.
- Place a sandwich on it, cover it with a sheet of parchment, and place a weight on top in the form of a heavy frying pan or a pot filled with water.
- After 2 minutes, disassemble the structure, turn the sandwich over, and flatten it again with a weight. Continue to cook for another 2-3 minutes until the cheese has melted.
If the sandwich seems too large to you, you can cut it crosswise into two approximately equal parts before serving. This panini recipe is considered a classic.
His Majesty the sandwich: from smørrebrød to panini
Olga ANTIPENKO.
RECIPE No. 1
Dutch sandwich with cheese and apple
NECESSARY:
There are so many sandwich options that it would seem impossible to surprise anyone with this simple quick snack. No! By the way, it’s not true if you think that once upon a time sandwiches were made simply from butter with a piece of cheese or sausage. In an old Moscow cookbook published by the Food Industry publishing house in 1974, I found this simple, but at the same time very nice option. Soviet chefs spotted it from the Dutch. The cooking technique is simple and unpretentious. Lightly fry white bread for toast in a frying pan, then grease with a thin layer of butter. Place a thin, thin slice of apple on top. I cut it into almost transparent pieces, but if you want a brighter fruit flavor, cut the apple thicker. Top with slices of cheese and our appetizer goes into the oven (or microwave).
Dutch sandwich with cheese and apple.
But it’s too early to relax: the cheese should melt, but not float, so don’t take your eyes off your bread wards. As soon as the sandwiches are baked, sprinkle them with walnuts and serve with tea with lemon. After such a breakfast, you are guaranteed a sunny mood!
RATING: UNUSUAL
RECIPE No. 2
Panini with suluguni and pesto sauce
NECESSARY:
This recipe came from our reader Sergievskaya Lilia. And thanks to my love for Italy and its cuisine, I couldn’t pass up this snack option. In general, Italians use the musical word “panini” to describe almost any sandwich (there are open and closed). White bread for toast, cereal buns for hamburgers, freshly baked ciabatta (Italian bread made from wheat flour and yeast with coarse pulp and a crispy crust) are suitable as a base. However, I’ll say right away that it’s difficult to find the base for panini in our country: ciabatta can only be bought in some hypermarkets. So if you have time, you can bake it yourself. Well, if guests are on the doorstep and there is no time to knead the dough, take any cereal buns. Then everything is simple: thickly coat the “ground floor” with pesto sauce (it contains Parmesan, pine nuts and basil), place a thick slice of suluguni on top, and then pieces of tomatoes. Two or three minutes - and now a piece of fragrant Italy is on your table.
Panini with suluguni and pesto sauce.
By the way, the peculiarity of this version of panini is that if you don’t finish the hearty dish, feel free to leave it for tomorrow - it will be just as tender when heated
RATING: GENTLE AND THIN
RECIPE No. 3
Smørrebrød with shrimp
NECESSARY:
Just don't panic! Behind this unusual and, frankly, almost unpronounceable word lies a completely ordinary sandwich! Danish only. Smørrebrød is a mountain of all sorts of goodies (from fish and meat to vegetables and cheese), beautifully laid out on a slice of rye bread, greased with Danish butter (or cream cheese). This is the kind of breakfast that the famous storyteller Christian Andersen treated himself to. Even now, the Danes treat their national dish with love. Sandwiches are served in a strictly defined order: first with fish, then with meat and finally with cheese. Some masterpieces can reach up to two floors! The easiest way to eat Danish beauty is with a fork and knife. If you try to approach smørrebrød like an ordinary sandwich and try to swallow it on the run, you won’t taste anything.
Smørrebrød with shrimp.
By the way, on the social network Facebook, the Danish sandwich has a whole page where you can find hundreds of variations and, most importantly, ideas for design. To be honest, I started with the simplest one - one-story.
So, take rye bread, spread it with cream cheese (a very thin layer), then lay out a lettuce leaf (it should cover almost the entire sandwich), the next layer is quail eggs, cut into halves. Squeeze a few drops of mayonnaise or mustard sauce on top, then generously sprinkle our appetizer with freshly boiled shrimp, garnish with cucumber slices and parsley. That's it: your sandwich-salad in one is ready to be served and eaten (either with a morning cup of coffee or an evening glass of chilled white wine)
RATING: EXCELLENT
READER'S KITCHEN
Getting ready for Easter!
Dear readers, hostesses! We are waiting for your signature recipes, which can be tested in the “KP Tasting” section. Dishes of the week for the next issues - Easter cottage cheese and Easter cakes.
There is an unusual recipe - send it! We will prepare a dish based on one of them. The author of this recipe will receive a prize - a subscription to Komsomolskaya Pravda for three months.
We are waiting for your most original recipes at the address: 220005 Minsk, PO Box 192, or by email, marked “KP Tasting”. Don't forget to leave your name, address and telephone number in the letter.
Panini "Caprese" with mozzarella and tomatoes
Compound:
- Italian oblong bun or baguette – 0.2 kg;
- tomatoes – 100 g;
- mozzarella – 100 g;
- fresh basil, olive oil - as needed;
- salt, spices - to taste.
Cooking method:
- Cut the bread into round slices about 1 cm thick.
- Cut the tomatoes and mozzarella into round pieces.
- Brush the bread on all sides with olive oil.
- Place a slice of tomato on half the pieces of bread.
- Sprinkle the tomatoes with salt and spices, cover each tomato slice with a basil leaf and a piece of mozzarella.
- Place the remaining bread on top.
- Place the sandwiches in the preheated sandwich maker and press down.
- Start the device. A signal will indicate readiness. The nature of the signal depends on the manufacturer’s settings; usually the light goes out.
- Turn off the appliance, open it, and carefully remove the panini from it.
Caprese panini can also be fried on a grill pan according to the same principle as described in the previous recipe.
Biography
Panini lived in the state of Gandhara in northern India. He studied in the city of Taxila, known for its rich traditions of linguistics. He compiled the first normative grammar of Sanskrit in the history of India, “Ashtadhyaya” (“Eight Books”) - briefly formulated 3959 sutras (rules) that comprehensively describe the phonetics, morphology and syntax of the language. At the same time, Panini used such concepts as phoneme, morpheme, root, suffix, parts of speech. Panini's description of the language is still considered [ source not specified 2913 days
] perfect. The ancient Hindus placed Panini among the Vedic sage rishis. Later they claimed that he wrote most of his works at the direct inspiration of the god Shiva[1]. As the legend goes, as a child Panini was supposedly so stupid that he was expelled from school, but Shiva’s mercy towards him put him ahead of everyone in science[1].
The dating of the scientist’s life is extremely approximate. He was definitely born after the 7th century BC. e. and died before the 3rd century BC. e. Based on individual words in his work, we can conclude that Panini did not have reliable knowledge about Greece, that is, he lived before the era of Alexander the Great.
Panini is mentioned in Dandin’s famous novel “Dashakumaracharita” (“The Adventures of the Ten Princes,” 8th century), which many researchers consider to be the first Indian novel [ source not specified 968 days
].
Panini with smoked breast and tomatoes
Compound:
- focaccia – 0.3 kg;
- tomatoes – 0.2 kg;
- smoked chicken breast fillet – 100 g;
- hard cheese – 100 g;
- lettuce leaves – 4–6 pcs.;
- pesto sauce, crushed nuts (optional) - to taste;
- olive oil - as needed.
Cooking method:
- Cut the Italian flatbread into triangular or rectangular pieces of approximately the same size. Divide each piece into two flat pieces with a knife, or use two pieces of focaccia at once to make panini without cutting them in half.
- Cut the tomatoes into circles. This should be done with a special knife with fine teeth or simply sharpened so as not to squeeze out excess juice from the vegetables.
- Separate the smoked chicken breast fillet from the bones and cut into thin pieces.
- Grind the cheese on a grater.
- Brush the focaccia pieces with olive oil.
- Place tomato slices on half of the pieces, lettuce leaves on them, and smoked chicken on top. Brush the chicken with sauce, sprinkle with crushed nuts and grated cheese.
- Cover the pyramids of bread, chicken, cheese and tomatoes with the remaining pieces of tortilla.
- Place the sandwiches on a hot grill pan, press them down with any weight, and fry for 1–2 minutes.
- Carefully turn over and fry on the other side for about the same time.
The taste of panini prepared according to this recipe will depend on the version of focaccia. Garlic and basil flatbread is best.
