The BLT is one of my favorite sandwiches, so I couldn't wait to try making one on our new panini maker. Ideally, I would use a good french bread to make this version, but my store-bought bread didn't quite survive the week the way I had hoped it would! In place of it, I used a basic sandwich bread. It was still good, but the french bread would have been better. The only other bit of advice would be to carefully monitor how long the sandwich cooks for. You obviously want the cheese to melt, but do not cook it much past that or your lettuce will get quite soggy.
BLT and Cheese Panini
2 pieces of french bread per sandwich, cut at a diagonal
cooked bacon
sliced tomato
lettuce
mayonnaise
mustard
provolone cheese
olive oil
Mix mayonnaise and mustard to taste and spread on one side of each slice of bread. Drizzle olive oil over the entire back side of each piece. Place oil side down. Assemble sandwich by placing one piece of cheese, bacon, tomato, and lettuce (in that order) on each sandwich half. Carefully place sandwich together and put onto the center of the panini grill. Press down on the top of the grill for about 10-15 seconds, then grill only until cheese is melted. Remove from the grill and cut diagonally.
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Yum!!! I still need to try my panini maker...I think this is even a recipe I can get Marcus to try :) (Minus the mayo and mustard, of course!)
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like an awesome panini sandwich combination. I havegotto break mine out of the basement. Its still in the box..Looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteWe've had a panini press for a while, and we love it! Your sandwich looks delicious! I would think, though, if you used a more solid bread (like a French bread), you would have to press it longer to get a nice crust on the outside, and then that would make the lettuce soggier. I'm not sure, though...what do you think?
ReplyDeleteMindy-- you're right... It would take a little longer for the sturdier bread, which does make the lettuce a bit soggier. I find that if you can make sure that the lettuce is as centered as possible in the sandwich, it helps shield it from getting most of the heat while the bread gets crisp and the cheese melts. If only there was a way to add the lettuce after pressing the sandwich! Sometimes I will leave the lettuce out to avoid the problem. In my opinion, if it isn't crisp, I don't necessarily want it in there anyway. Thanks for stopping by!
ReplyDeleteYour sandwich looks delicious! BLT's is one of my favorites too and now I'll be wishing I had a panini press in my kitchen as well. :) Great recipe!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the new panini maker! Lots of fun times ahead :-) Your sandwich looks great - gotta love a good BLT. My two cents on the lettuce - it is actually feasible to insert it after grilling, you just have to kind of "reserve" a spot for it away from the cheese. I learned that one on the Food Network one evening :-)
ReplyDeleteKathy,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip! That's an ideal solution!
Good idea, Kathy...I always leave lettuce out because of the sogginess. DD--I can't wait to get back to my own kitchen and try this out!
ReplyDelete