Red Dragon, with its robust cheddar, mustard and ale flavors, would make a fantastic grilled cheese sandwich on its own (read my “review” of this great cheese!).  In fact, I broiled a few open-faced ones for breakfast last week!  But since the point of my Cheese, Please! series is not only to find great cheeses for panini but also to identify delicious complementary fillings, I looked to hearty roast beef and fresh, peppery arugula to round out my Red Dragon panini.

[Read on and Get the Recipe →]

For this next installment of my Cheese, Please! series, I decided to do a little “research” at my local cheese shop, Venissimo. I told the ladies behind the counter that I was looking to expand my repertoire of cheeses that might melt well in panini and the samples started rolling in one after another.  It was terrific!

When we got to a sample called “Red Dragon” I braced myself for a dose of muy caliente, burn-my-lips-off, four-alarm spiciness.  I’m pleased to report my lips are still intact. It turns out the name actually is derived from the red dragon emblem on the Welsh flag.  The cheese itself actually isn’t hot.  Phew!

Covered in bright red wax, Red Dragon is a Welsh cheddar-style cheese made with mustard seeds and Welsh ale.  It’s got a buttery flavor combined with a sharp, tangy bite that I found to be really appealing.  It’s almost like having your condiment and your cheese all rolled into one, with the inclusion of the mustard.  I knew right away that it would taste great on any sandwich where I might normally use cheddar and mustard - such as with roast beef, ham or turkey.

Since Red Dragon is made with beer, it’s known to pair well with beer too.  I’ve seen recommendations for both pale and dark ales.  My recommendation would be to try it with both.

Click here for my Red Dragon, Roast Beef & Arugula Panini recipe!

What better way to learn about different cheeses for panini than from a cheese shop? I recently had the most wonderful time “cheese-ing” with my sister at Venissimo in Mission Hills.  They brought out an endless stream of meltable options for us to try: Raclette, Etorki, Gruyère, Habanero Jack, Red Dragon…I could barely keep up with my notetaking with all of this goodness coming my way.  In between nibbles it occurred to me that you all would love the experience just as much as I did.  So I decided to pull together a Cheese Shop Directory. Go ahead and give it a try!  Find a shop in your local area, taste some samples and bring home some great “new” cheeses to take your panini to the next level.

> Find your local cheese shop in the Cheese Shop Directory

I may have a new favorite sandwich.  Now, I have enjoyed all of the panini on my blog or I wouldn’t have written them up (trust me, there a number that will never be repeated!), but today’s Emmental, Honey & Ham Panini was especially tasty.  Can’t-put-it-down good.  And it all hinged on the terrific flavor and texture of the Emmental cheese.  I’m definitely glad I decided to expand my cheese repertoire and launch my “Cheese, Please!” series.  If you missed it, you can read my post about the wonderful Emmental here.

[Read on and Get the Recipe →]

In my recent Panini Happy reader survey, I asked what your favorite sandwich ingredients were.  Would you believe how many of you responded, “Cheese, cheese and more cheese!”?  Wow! Well, I love cheese too.  Although sandwiches don’t have to contain cheese to be deemed “panini”, you’ve probably noticed that pretty much all of mine do.

So I’ve decided to make cheese the focus of my panini for a little while and start a new series called “Cheese, Please!”.  I’m filing it under Panini 101, since an exploration of panini ingredients should definitely be part of one’s panini education :-)  My primary criterion: meltability.  If it tastes good and melts well, then it’s probably a great candidate for inclusion in panini.  We’ll learn a little about each cheese, where it’s from, how it’s made and what to pair it with.  And, of course, I’ll do a panini recipe.  First up: Emmental!

[Read on and Get the Recipe →]

For weeks, I’ve been thinking about how I might put together barbecued chicken panini, but I always got stuck on the cheese part.  What kind of cheese goes with barbecue?  Well, somehow it totally escaped my consciousness that I do enjoy a barbecued chicken pizza every now and then.  That, of course, uses mozzarella.  Successfully so, in fact!  I must credit Gabi from The Feast Within and her gorgeous pulled chicken sandwiches post for jogging my memory about the virtues of barbecued chicken pizza.  If the flavors work well on a pizza, they should taste great in sandwich form too, right?

You could easily use leftovers from Gabi’s delicious “low and slow” chicken recipe to make my Barbecued Chicken Panini, or grill some barbecue sauce-marinated boneless, skinless thighs in about 4 minutes on the panini grill, as I did.  The conversion from barbecued chicken pizza to panini was an easy - and delicious - one!

[Read on and Get the Recipe →]

Well…I debated a variety of titles for this post:

• “When Bad Panini Happen to Good People”
• “What Went Wrong”
• “Don’t Try this at Home”
• “Now, That Was %@#&ing Disgusting!”

But once I picked my ego up off the kitchen floor, I looked to the positive side and tried to learn from the experience of creating a major dud of a sandwich this past weekend. I now have a new category, called “Notes for Next Time”. It’s my sincere hope that this category doesn’t fill up too quickly (!!), but the reality is that when you experiment a lot you’re bound to have a few disasters. I’ll spare you the recipes here, but you might at least feel a little better about your own cooking in reading about my occasional mishap [Read on and Get the Recipe →]

You guys have it easy. If you want to know a little more about me, you can always check out my profile or read through all the various personal anecdotes in my posts. But if I’d like to get to know the nice folks who stop by to browse through this lovely little blog I’ve been spending so much time with, well that takes a bit of coordination.

That’s why I decided to launch a quick reader survey - it takes less than 5 minutes to complete. And as a little thank-you incentive, one lucky participant will receive a $25 Amazon electronic gift card, courtesy of moi (survey closes Monday, June 30, 2008).

THE SURVEY IS NOW CLOSED

Thanks in advance for your participation - looking forward to getting better acquainted!

You know the Kohler plumbing fixtures commercial - “Design a house around this…” and then the couple presents their architect with a rather striking faucet for inspiration. That ad came to mind as I was gearing up to create a panini recipe involving shrimp. Usually, I have a specific sandwich concept in mind at the outset but this time I decided to work “from the inside out” and let my palette be my guide. Not a bad approach, it turns out! I ended up grilling jumbo prawns inside some pancetta, balancing the saltiness with some sweet caramelized Vidalia onions and creamy goat cheese, tossing in some chopped parsley for fresh color and flavor and wrapping it all up in a crispy pita. Delicious!

[Read on and Get the Recipe →]

I’ve gone mobile! It was my good friend Karen’s birthday and another good friend, Gillian, and I decided to prepare lunch for her to celebrate. So I packed up my Breville, a bunch of tupperware full of fixins and my 6 month old and transported Panini Happy up to the OC.

As supermom to four active-yet-endearing kiddies ages 5, 3, 2 and 4 months (she writes a most humorous blog, recounting the darndest things that happen around their house!), Karen deserved some “grown up” flavors for a change. My solution: Florentine-style chicken panini with lemon-herb grilled chicken, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes and Parmesan cheese on rosemary and olive oil bread. Robust and zesty, it was sure to be a welcome departure from chicken fingers and tater tots. Admittedly, the sandwiches looked a touch more rustic than some of my past panini, but hey, what’s a little imperfection among friends?

[Read on and Get the Recipe →]