Panini

I have an unholy love for panini sandwiches - grilling a sandwich, IMO, makes the end result exponentially more delicious! A few months ago, I was contemplating my George Foreman grill (for which I also have an unholy love) and realized that among the millions of other things it could do, it could also make a bangin grilled cheese sandwich. Since then I have had many panini experiments, each more delicious than the next! One notable sandwich was inspired by one of Scott's favorites - sliced turkey, Swiss cheese, bacon and cranberry relish on rye. Well, last night's sandwich ( ... which will most likely see a reprise tonight!) was also unbelievably tasty - grilled veggies and goat cheese!

It was ridiculously simple to put together and required only a knife, cutting board, a bowl and George! I started by grilling the vegetables - my vegetables for this sandwich were zucchini, yellow squash and eggplant. My friend, Mara, came by for dinner and catching up, so she obliged me in slicing up the zucchini and squash on a bias (to increase surface area), unpeeled in 1/4" thick slices. From there, they were tossed in a bowl with some olive oil to coat. Meanwhile, I busted into the eggplant - I peeled the eggplant and cut it in 1/2" rounds. I laid those slices out, sprinkled them with kosher salt (both sides) and rinsed them off after about 20 minutes. (If you are unfamiliar as to why I would do this, it helps draw out the extra moisture and bitterness in the eggplant.) The eggplant, too, was tossed in the bowl with the olive oil.

I allowed George to preheat and then grilled the vegetables one grillful at a time. Grill time will vary by vegetable and thickness - about 6 minutes per batch worked well for me and left the veggies with great grill marks. Once all the veggies were grilled, it was time to assemble the sandwiches. I split the kaiser rolls open and began to build the panini!

First, I spread some chevre (goat cheese, the soft crumbly kind) on both sides of the roll, and then topped the bottom half with a nice big spoonful of bruschetta! Now, if it wasn't a Wednesday night that didn't have me arriving home until after 7pm, I would have probably made my own tomato, basil, and onion bruschetta to use on these sandwiches, but the grocery store had a really tasty premade version, so I took the shortcut. (But I do love to make my own brushcetta - especially in the summer when it is too hot to use oven and stove!) On top of the bruschetta, I layered the grilled vegetables and then popped the top of the roll on. From here, the sandwich was tossed on the already hot George until it was grilled to perfection.

The panini was delicious - crispy bread, flat squashed down sandwich, flavorful vegetables, tangy bruschetta and rich, delicious goat cheese that had melted into everything! I haven't been able to stop thinking of it!

Lime Madaleines

I have made Madaleines in many different flavors: traditional orange, lemon, grapefruit ... but even though the lime is perhaps my favorite citrus fruit, I have never made lime madaleines before. Last weekend, Scott picked up some really nice limes and brought them over. Just fat, juicy limes with really nice rinds. I replaced the orange zest that the recipe calls for with the zest of 2 limes.

Scott says that they tasted more lemony than anything else, and he made a great point - they tasted more lemon than the lemon ones! but they were really tasty and the green zest really looked neat in the cookies. So fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside.

We may or may not have housed the whole tray.

Last Udon of Spring

Not the best pictures I have ever taken, but I think you get the idea! :)

Thursday night has been Udon Night at my place for the fall and winter months, but last night we had the final Udon Night until it fall circles back around. That is not to say I won't randomly decide to make some udon before then, but for the warmer months, it won't be a weekly feature in the menu. It kind of warms you up when you eat it - my teensy apartment gets ridiculously hot in the warm months ... I will most assuredly NOT need warming up then!

Ever since I got my little veggie shapes cutters (4 different flowers - I love them!) I have been thinking of differently colored vegetables and how to cut them into flowers and include them in a meal. I decided to do carrot flowers again, but also ... Purple Yam Flowers!

I waited until I was just about ready to bring the udon broth up to a simmer, then busted out my mandoline slicer and sliced up the yam. It has a beautiful purple and white interior! When I had sliced the whole yam, I used the cutters to cut the flower shapes. The slices with the cutouts were pretty whimsical, too, so I tossed the carrot and yam flowers as well as their slices into the udon to bring to a simmer. When the meal was ready, the yams had cooked and I think their flavor brought A LOT to the broth!

This udon was made of: udon noodles, shiitake mushrooms (browned in a pan first), scallions, carrots, purple yams, wakame seaweed and naruto (kamoboko).

Stromboli

Of course I forgot to take a picture :)

On Friday night, I was organizing my fridge a bit while waiting for Scott to come over. I came upon a bit of leftover roast chicken breast, I still had a bunch of bacon hanging around, I had a little Cheddar Jack cheese leftover and a ball of whole wheat pizza dough that needed to be used sooner rather than later. The chicken and bacon stromboli was born!

This is a ridiculously easy and satisfying option for dinner! It took care of a lot of leftovers that might have gone to waste and it was so tasty! And I was able to prep it ahead - Scott doesn't get out of work until fairly late on Friday nights and then he likes to head to his place for a shower and to spend some time with his cats. While he was giving some love to the kittehs, I put the whole thing together and there it was, all set on its baking tray, ready to go as soon as we wanted dinner!

The premade whole wheat dough at my local grocery store is fantastic and was on crazy-sale last week ... there happen to be 3 balls lying in wait in my freezer and since the warm weather is coming (along with my refusal to use the oven in an already hellaciously hot apartment), looks like I am going to have to make them sooner rather than later! :) I have made my own (very tasty!) pizza dough in the past, but sometimes it's worth it to buy pre-made - no shame in a shortcut!