EEE Cooks: Vegetable Goat Cheese Panini (Recipe)

Vegetable Goat Cheese Panini

A crusty ciabatta loaf from the farmer’s market, leftover asparagus, bottled red peppers, arugula, herbs, and creamy goat cheese, combine in a sophisticated “grilled cheese” sandwich.

Servings and Times

Serves: 3

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Tools and Appliances

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Ingredients

1 5 x 5 inch chunk ciabatta bread

1 recipe oregano dressing

4 ounces chevre, fresh goat cheese cheese (Vermont Butter and Cheese Company)

½ cup leftover, roasted, plain asparagus

½ cup jarred, fire roasted red bell pepper

1 teaspoon fresh, mix of thyme oregano, lemon thyme, mint herbs

½ cup bagged, triple-washed arugula

We start by pre-heating our gas grill.

While the grill is warming, we cover our grilling brick with heavy duty aluminum foil.

We cut our bread in half—revealing the inner crumb, while leaving it attached on one side. We will cook it as one large sandwich and cut it into portions afterwards. We spread some of the dressing on both sides of the crumb of the bread. Next, we spread 1 ounce of goat cheese on each side, and then top the bottom portion with asparagus, another ounce of goat cheese (crumbled), red peppers, herbs, remaining goat cheese (again, crumbled), arugula, and, finally, one more teaspoon of the dressing. We press the sandwich together firmly to prevent spillage on the grill. Any remaining dressing is reserved for a salad.

We put the large sandwich on the grill, weighting it down with the brick. It is best to place the brick against the open side of the sandwich because it helps to keep the ingredients inside. We cook for a few minutes on the one side, carefully remove the brick, flip the sandwich, and weight again. We keep it on the grill until the crust is toasty and the cheese is melted. We slice the sandwich in thirds and enjoy.