the day after...

In this holiday season of over eating and fridges full of mysterious items wrapped in aluminum foil, many of us turn to the sandwich as the staple vehicle of getting items on the table and in the stomachs of family, guests, or oneself. And I'm not suggesting anyone do anything different. However, I do have a preferential tool to help me beat the leftover sandwich blues, and that is simply, a panini press. Now for those of you whom don't have a panini press (I was lucky enough to get one for Christmas last year) you can easily use a grill pan with something weighty on top to help create any number of warm gooey toasted delights of the portable, delectable, and always welcome panini.

This year, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, my father's side of the family got together for an early holiday party, as many a cousin/grandchild were already in town, and we don't get to see each other too often. That being said...there was more food run through my parent's home than a small nation could possibly consume, and I was sent back to NY with many a foil packet filled with an array of culinary comforts. In one said packet, were leftover slices of a beef tenderloin that had been marinaded and roasted to medium rare. The beef was moist and delicious the day of the party, and I decided to put my leftovers in a panini with onions and a cheese sauce, also leftover from my french onion soup dumplings (I'll blog about that another time), and the combination was outstanding. Assembly instructions follow.

Beef Tenderloin Panini with Jarlsberg cheese sauce

Leftover beef tenderloin chopped into bite size pieces or sliced super thin

two thick slices of good crusty bread (I used a fresh uncut loaf of sourdough)

1 onion sliced

cheese sauce (I used Jarlsberg)

mustard

olive oil

1 clove of garlic minced

Directions

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a saute pan over med/high heat. Add sliced onion, toss to coat, and cook till soft and beginning to turn brown, about 10 minutes. Add minced garlic and cook for an additional 2 mins. Remove from heat.

Preheat panini press to 400 F, or heat a grill pan over high heat on the stove.

Assemble the sandwich as follows. Spread some mustard on both pieces of bread as well as a good amount of cheese sauce. On one slice, pile up the onion/garlic mixture and the chopped leftovers on the other. Marry the two slices, and brush the bread with olive oil. Place sandwich on the press or pan, oil side down, and brush the other side with oil. Close the press and cook until bread is toasted and sandwich is heated through, approx 7-8 min. If you're doing this on a grill pan, weight the sandwich with another pot or some other type of kitchen weight, and flip about half way through cooking.

Much in the way Subway didn't buy toasters until Quizno's did it first, Americans are now toasting many a sandwich other than grilled cheese, as the Italians have been doing for some time. This panini is nothing special or spectacular, beyond it's flavor, and can be done in many ways. Much like risotto, panini is more of a technique...stop laughing...it is. It's about a good bread, one or two good simple ingredients (meat or vegetable) and a binding agent (cheese, pesto, or sauce), toasted together to marry flavors and create a warm portable meal for the road, or the busy streets of any bustling metropolis. So don't worry if you don't have any beef tenderloin hanging out in your fridge...you could do something just as good with that chicken, turkey, or ham taking up all that space. Give it a second life as good as it's first, and you may find yourself hiding extra portions from your guests to ensure your tomorrow has a panini on it's horizon.

Mangia et statti zitto...

cheers...

dunkin