Roasted Red Pepper and Basil Panini

A Panini sandwich is probably my all time favorite lunch. A panini is a sandwich that is grilled on a panini press and usually filled with Italian ingredients such as fresh mozzarella cheese, salami, mortadella, and so on. The popularity of the panini has really grown over the past few years and you'll find them on almost any cafe or bistros lunch board. For this panini I loaded mine up with fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, and roasted red peppers (you can find these in a jar or in the deli in most groceries stores). If you don't have a panini press you can make these in a regular frying pan and just add weight to the top to help press the sandwich down. That being said a panini press is an inexpensive kitchen tool I'd highly recommend purchasing. Melted to perfection in between to slices of perfectly grilled ciabatta bread, this is far and away my favorite panini.

Recipe yields 1 sandwich
4 slices of fresh mozzarella
1 whole roasted red pepper cut into segments
5-6 fresh basil leaves
2 slices of Ciabatta bread
1 clove of garlic
Olive oil

Preheat your grilled or panini press to medium heat.

Peel and slice one clove of garlic in half. Take your slices of ciabatta bread and on the inside of the slices, rub the cut side of the garlic along the bread. This will give our panini  a hint of garlic flavor without that overpowering harshness of raw garlic.

Lay two slices of mozzarella cheese down onto one slice of the bread and then top that with the basil and the roasted red peppers. Add the remaining cheese to the basil and roasted peppers and cap the sandwich off with the final piece of bread. Rub some olive oil on the top and bottom of the panini and transfer to your hot griddle.

Grill the panini until the outside of the bread is crispy and golden and the mozzarella cheese has melted. Slice the panini in half and serve warm.