I'm buying my husband a panini maker for christmas and want to get him a cookbook to go along with it. Does anyone know of a good panini cookbook?
Thanks,
Mary

If you search for panini under books over on Amazon, there are a couple that look pretty good, although I don't have any experience with any of them.

To my mind a panini "cookbook" is a contradiction. The beauty of the panino is that it's only limited by your imagination

I agree with RAR. A panino is a quick snack thrown toghether with whtever you have handy, usually leftovers. Also the so.called "panini makers" are a pretty new thing: grilled panini are someting of the late 1960's or early 1970's. Before that a panino was a piece of bread cut in two and filled with a couple of slices of prosciutto or some cheese or some leftover meats. And that's still what most people eat when they have a panino.

My mom gave me a panini grille last Christmas and included this recipe book. I don't think I've really used it, except for ideas, but some of the ingredient combinations look really good. I'm always intending to try the grilled chocolate sandwich on the cover.

We have grilled panini most Saturday nights with soup during the winter months. The family favorite is just prosciutto, mozzarella & tomato...nothing fancy for my kids.

Geralyn

Thanks everyone.

I know a panini cookbook is kind of a contradiction but with 2 kids under 21 months my creativity for cooking is almost zero so we just need ideas. I saw something on one of the many cooking shows that had something like mushrooms and goat cheese which sounded good but at this point I wouldn't have thought of it.

Alice - if prosciutto was cheap here like it is there I would always have it in my house too. It is also hard to find a good prosciutto.

My husband and I were just talking about the autogrills on the highways there and how much better the food is there than eating our McDonald's. As we were driving to/from the in-laws we consumed way too much McDonald's and craved the prosciutto of the autogrill!

Thanks,
Mary

Maybe prosciutto, but the concept is that you put in there whatever you have handy: a slice of some roasted meat or some uneaten yesterday's fish, leftover veggies with some cheese, stuff out of a jar... Whatever! My personal choice is to never cram more than two ingredients in the same panino.

We got the William-Sonoma panini grill last year with that same cookbook that Geralyn mentioned. And, like Geralyn, I have yet to use it. Love the grill though and have used it many times. You can be creative or not. Meaning that you can make an old standby like ham and cheese or something like prosciutto and fresh mozzerella with basil. All yummy!

The best panino I had in Italy was porchetta with pepperoni (aka peperoncini in the US), not grilled but to die for!

I never really thought of putting leftovers in it...that would make life easy. Especially since I make dinner for my daughter early then put the kids to bed and then make a second dinner to have with my husband at 8pm. Since we are in bed at ten the panini seems to be a great option.

I agree with RAR. I can see having cookbooks for making the bread, and cookbooks for making the things that may become leftovers to fill the bread.

P.S. Unless I am starving and desperate, I won't buy a panino from anyplace that calls it "a panini."

I think a concise way of putting it is that most anything that tastes good will taste good between two pieces of bread.

I use my grill all the time. My husband's favorite is leftover grilled chicken, brie and bacon or proscuitto!

One importnat general rule, IMHO, about making panini is to be able to select which items to grill and which items never to grill. I would never grill any panino with a filling made of mozzarella, tomato, salad of whatever kind. In this case, at the most, I would warm up lightly the bread in the oven (or microwave) before filling it. I would also consider carefully whether to grill anything made with prosciutto, coppa or salame. Also in this case, cold filling, warm or cold bread. Grilling the first makes the tomato loose flavor, "saddens" the salad and turns fresh mozzarella into a leathery layer. THe latter just get to salty and unpleasant. personally, I would only grill panin made with cooked ingredients (porchetta, assorted leftovers, etc.) and melty cheeses. The one and only cured meat that I would add to a grilled panino (apart from some sausages) is pancetta. Yet, rather tahn buying a costly and breakable panini grill, I woold just use an old "bistecchiera", which is also great for making sausage panini (just grill the sausage, warm the bread bseide it, fill the bread with the sausge and eat; add some grilled and skinned peppers or grilled onions, if you like).

Well, reading this panini thread yesterday inspired me so, last night, I assembled some ingredients and made panini for dinner. In doing so, I inadvertently broke just about every single one of Alice's panini rules. Not knowing any better, my husband and I had what we thought was a delicious dinner!

I had some Prosciutto di Parma in the fridge as well as some sun-dried tomatoes packed in olive oil. I stopped in at my local Italian market and bought fresh mozzarella and a couple of the rolls they use to make panini.

I filled the rolls and used the George Forman Grill that I've had sitting around the house (unused) for a couple of years to warm them up. The rolls became a little crunchy, the mozzarella warm and slightly melted, the prosciutto warmed but didn't dry out or overcook at all, and the sun-dried tomatoes added just the zip of flavor and extra bit of moisture that was needed. The only thing I felt was missing was some fresh basil leaves.

Oh well, ignorance is bliss!

quote:

Originally posted by Annie M: I broke just about every single one of Alice's panini rules. Not knowing any better, my husband and I had what we thought was a delicious dinner!

Annie:
Sounds like you were much better off following Matt’s advice

quote:

Originally posted by Rar:
I think a concise way of putting it is that most anything that tastes good will taste good between two pieces of bread.

than Alice’s

quote:

Originally posted by Alice Twain: One importnat general rule, IMHO, about making panini is to be able to select which items to grill and which items never to grill. I would never grill any panino with a filling made of mozzarella, tomato...I would also consider carefully whether to grill anything made with prosciutto, coppa or salame.

We actually did use our cast iron grill pan for sausage sandwiches (with grilled peppers, too) on Monday. But I prefer the ease of cleaning the panini grill. Even my 13 yr. old uses it on the weekends for grilled cheese sandwiches (AND he cleans it up after!)

Geralyn

The way I read it, Alice's "rules" applied to items to be grilled, not simply items to be eaten between two pieces of bread or even items to be "warmed up" slightly. So there's no conflict here.

Hi,

To answer your original question about a good panini cookbook, I can recommend Marlena Spieler's "Grilled Cheese - 50 Recipes to Make You Melt." Outstanding, and adds a few excellent side salads, dishes and mustards. While you don't have to buy it thru Amazon.com, you can view the table of contents, the intro and a couple of sample recipes on Amazon, which will also guide you to several other panini and related cookbooks.

Dan

Thanks Dan - This is what I am looking for...mozzarella, prosciutto and fig jam...that sounds good and would never had thought to put that together in a sandwich (although I do make a great fig and proscuitto pizza).
-Mary

How about this, couple of slices of Pastrami, some swiss cheese, slapped between 2 pieces of bread with some sauerkraut in between and mustard on one side and mayo on the other, I usually just swipe some mayo on both outsides then slap it on my reversible waffle maker (the flat side!) The mayo seems to make it brown nicely on the top and bottom.....hmmmm, it's almost lunch time.....

I was watching Tyler Florence a while ago and got a good recipe--I HIGHLY doubt this is verbatim, but it went something like this:
roasted duck breast (I of course used turkey)
fontina cheese
avocado
crisp bacon
all between sourdough slices.
yikes. it was good.

Mary Beth

Call me a hybrid. I don't mind grilling my bread with the tomato and mozzarella in it, but never eveeeer will my cured meats get heated. I generally layer it like this: mozza (warm), lettuce (cold), prosciutto (room temp), lettuce (cold), tomato (warm). I figure the lettuce insulates my prosciutto and keeps it at regular temperature

maybe instead of buying a cookbook I will just print off all your ideas! That would actually be great so keep the ideas coming.

Thanks,
Mary