Thursday, June 28, 2007

Panini's and... Lady Fingers???


Good morning once again! Yesterday, I was on my way home on the bus (yes, I had to take the bus!) and was wondering what to make for dinner. It was on the warm side, so I didn't want to make anything too heavy, and I thought to myself, "What have I never made before?" Well, I've never made panini's, and I did receive a handy-dandy George Foreman Grill for my wedding. Anyways, I didn't have a recipe on-hand for it, so I just decided to wing it. So, here it is, my first original Mehgan recipe for Roast Chicken with Bell Pepper and Tomato panini's:



-1 lb boneless, skinless whole chicken breasts
-2 tbsp. olive oil
-3 to 4 cloves of garlic
-1/2 medium onion, thin sliced
-1 bell pepper, thin sliced
-2 tomatoes, thin sliced
-1 cup of mozzarella cheese
-3 tbsp light mayonnaise
-1 tsp garlic salt
-1tsp Italian seasoning
-sliced bread (I used Milk & Honey bread for it's light color and sweet flavor)
In a medium pot, on low to medium heat, combine olive oil, garlic and onions. Once onions become transparent, add the chicken breasts and season to taste (I used salt, pepper, and a bit of Italian seasoning). Then add the bell peppers on top. Cook chicken thoroughly, keeping aware of the veggies so they won't burn or turn too mushy. In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, garlic salt and seasoning. Once the chicken is done, slice the cooked chicken into thin strips. Spread a thin layer of the mayonnaise mixture onto the inside of two slices of bread. Layer on the remaining ingredients (tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, mozzarella cheese) to your desire. (Mine went: mayo, cheese, tomatoes, chicken, bell peppers, onions, more cheese, then the other slice of bread). Place sandwich on grill and close top, cook for 3-4 minutes, keeping an eye out so that the sandwich doesnt burn.


I loved these because I could put whatever I wanted on it. When we ran out of chicken, I made my husband one using lunch meat (turkey slices). The mayonnaise wasn't overpowering, which is good, because I'm not a big fan of mayo in the first place, and the cheese was nice and melty and delicious.


For dessert, I had originally intended on trying my hand at making lady fingers. I had seen the ones in the film "Simply Irresistible" and it made me want to have one NOW. The ones I made, however, turned out more like a shortbread cookie. As it turns out, I used the wrong recipe, but the finished product was still tasty. Buttery, sweet and slightly lemony since I used some lemon zest in the batter and lemon extract in the caramel glaze. So, now I just call them Lemon Caramel Shortbread Cookies and they're going over really well with everyone I have try them (especially when paired with that first cup of coffee in the morning).



I adapted this recipe from recipezaar.com: http://www.recipezaar.com/18659, which I think I should have used a different one, but oh well, they're still tasty. Instead of baking them like a cake and then cutting them into lady fingers, I just piped them out of a pastry bag onto a baking sheet. At first, I made them too short, so they were more like Lady Thumbs, but once I got the hang of it, they started to look more long and elegant.

That's all for now folks, thanks for stopping by!

~Mehgan~

3 comments:

Glenna said...

Holy hell, you're so smart! I have a George Foreman sitting right in my kitchen and never thought about using it for panini's. Duh! thanks for that great idea I'll be stealing!

And yours look wonderful, that's why I'm so excited.

Mehgan said...

Thanks G! I had a lot of fun making them, and was actually thinking that something HAD to go wrong, since I had never just winged it like that. But, I decided to be brave and just do it. They were really flavorful, I know I'll be making them again.

Cris said...

That looks soo yummy!