Atkinson - How to make perfect panini

Catherine Atkinson has a degree in Food and Nutrition and has worked in various restaurants including the Roux Brothers famous patisserie. She has been deputy cookery editor on Womans Weekly and later cookery editor of Home. Catherine is now a full-time writer and food consultant to various food and lifestyle magazines and has written more than fifty cookbooks, including, Cookies, Biscuits, Bars and Brownies (winner in the best dessert category of the Gourmand World Awards).

Elizabeth Atkinson is passionate about food and cooking. She inspired and created many of the panini recipes in this book. A vegetarian for several years, she is now studying zoology at university and continues to write and campaign about food and animal welfare issues.

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Catherine Atkinson
and Elizabeth Atkinson

A How To Book

ROBINSON

First published in Great Britain in 2015 by Robinson

Copyright Catherine Atkinson and Elizabeth Atkinson, 2015

The moral right of the authors has been asserted.

All rights reserved.

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A CIP catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-1-84528-577-7 (B-format paperback)

ISBN 978-1-84528-578-4 (ebook)

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A popular choice on menus in trendy cafs, sandwich shops and busy restaurants, theres nothing quite like the flavour and aroma of freshly cooked panini hot from the press. Whether you want a quick snack, light lunch or even a main meal, a mouth-watering panini with crisp toasted bread and a hot flavoursome filling is the perfect choice.

The word panino is the Italian for a small bread roll and in English we now take it to mean a hot or cold sandwich. Panini is actually the plural but has become recognized as meaning a hot pressed sandwich often, but not always, with the edges unsealed, unlike a toasted sandwich. In recent years, owning a panini press has become almost as commonplace as having a toaster or blender; you no longer need to dine out to enjoy delicious fresh panini. In this book you will find all manner of classic and contemporary variations, from the simplest melted cheese to more elaborate multi-layered versions. Some of the classic well-known ones you may have already enjoyed, such as Italian Grilled Cheese and Tomato Panini ().

If youve only got ten minutes or so to prepare and cook something to eat, turn to the Quick and Easy Panini chapter, which makes the most of fridge, store-cupboard and leftover ingredients such as sliced meat, cheeses and ready-prepared deli ingredients. When youve more time to spare, take a look at the selection of panini in the Hearty Lunches, Substantial Snacks and Suppers ).

All of the panini in this book can be made with bought supermarket or bakery bread, but if you are feeling especially creative, you could make your own from a selection of recipes in the bread chapter: turn to chapter four to discover how to make ciabatta, focaccia, and flatbread directly on your panini press. There are also plenty of ideas on enhancing your panini with flavoured mayonnaises, relishes, chutneys and salsas. Whatever combination of bread and filling you choose, youll soon be making panini with flavour and flair.

From portable packed lunches to warm-weather picnics and dainty afternoon teas, millions of sandwiches are eaten every day. The idea is credited to John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, who rather than interrupting his card game to eat dinner, demanded that his meat was served between two slices of bread so that he could carry on gambling and eat at the same time without getting his hands messy. Of course, Montagu didnt actually invent the first sandwich: ordinary workers had long been taking basic meals of cheese between bread to their work in the farms and fields, but he made the sandwich socially acceptable and eventually fashionable among high society.

Sandwich toasters have been around for more than a century. At their most basic, they consist of two pieces of concave cast iron which can be clamped together and held with a long handle to toast over an open campfire. The first electric toasted sandwich maker, known as the Tostwich, was invented by Charles Champion around 1920 and was patented in 1925. It was sold to restaurants and cafs rather than advertised for domestic use, and toasted sandwiches became a popular menu item. It wasnt until 1974 that Breville, an Australian company, created their Snack n Sandwich toaster, with more than 400,000 selling in the first year alone. From the mid-1970s until the early 1980s, this was a must-have household appliance. The first models had a cut and seal mechanism that cut the sandwich diagonally across the middle and sealed the sides. Usually made with bought white bread, buttered on the outside to give an almost fried finish, it left little space inside for the filling.

The panini press is the latest trend in sandwich makers. Starting as large commercial machines which were only sold to restaurants, smaller ones soon became available for use at home and have now become a popular kitchen appliance. Although similar in some ways to the old-fashioned sandwich maker, a hinged top grill plate makes it much more versatile. And the toasted sandwich is no longer limited to supermarket sliced bread: the press allows for all manner of breads to be grilled, from the thinnest sliced bread with minimal filling, to large stuffed soft rolls. Because the edges of the sandwiches arent sealed, you can add as much filling as you can fit into the bread.

A panini press is basically a folding appliance with two metal grill plates which are hinged together. The plates are the source of the heat and are also used to press the panini. Most panini presses have parallel ridges on the metal grill plates; these give the panini its signature grill marks. Others have a flat surface. This type will not give the browned lines that are so attractive on a panini, but will allow you to cook foods such as fried eggs and mini pancakes. Whichever you choose, look for machines that have a good-quality non-stick surface.

Panini presses are available in different sizes, colours and prices and you will need to consider these factors before you decide which type is right for you. The smallest will comfortably cook two panini, larger ones up to four, and models originally aimed at the commercial market will cook up to a dozen at a time. Most panini presses are of a sleek design in contemporary stainless steel, but you can also get them in vibrant colours or with a more traditional-looking black finish.