Grilled Chicken and Roasted Red Pepper Panini's, Pass or Fail?

I am a fan of Pioneer Woman.  I think Dixie first pointed me in her direction (thanks, Dix!).  She is one of the queens of the Cooking Blog world, having published a cook book, a fiction book, and having made many appearances on TV shows, including a ShowDown with Bobby Flay.  She has a huge following and is both brilliant, relevant and, above all, entertaining.

Part of my daily routine is to read her blog and, well, find out "what's cookin' ".  Did that this morning and knew that I'd like to try the panini recipe she posted today.  In its' original format, it looked like a recipe that Dean and I would enjoy, verbatim. The boys, not so much.  Their version would be pared down and simplified from the original.  After a quick trip to the grocery store, supper prep began.

I'll show you the recipe, but after that, let's talk...

Grilled Chicken and Roasted Red Pepper Panini's

2 chicken breasts

8 whole sundried tomatoes, packed in oil
3 Tbsp basil pesto
1 Tbsp oil
1 Tbsp lemon juice
salt and pepper

2 red peppers*

1/4 cup mayonnaise
8 slices bread
softened butter
8 slices mozzarella

Combine the tomatoes, pesto, oil, juice and S and P in a mini-chopper and blend until smooth.  Set 1/2 of the mixture aside.  Flatten the chicken breasts into equal shaped pieces and marinate in the other half of the marinade mixture.  Let marinate for as long as you can - a few hours or even overnight.

Roast and peel 2 red peppers [*OR buy roasted red peppers in a jar].  (If you don't know how to roast peppers, do an internet search on that.  Simple process.  I did mine under the broiler.)  When roasted and peeled, slice into1" slices.

Grill the chicken breasts until cooked through and then slice on the diagonal.  Set aside.

Combine the second half of the marinade mixture with 1/4 cup mayo. 

Butter the bread as for grilled cheese sandwiches.  On the inside of the sandwich, layer the mayo mixture, sliced chicken, slices of red peppers and top with mozzarella slices.  Top with the second piece of bread and toast until golden brown.


Now, let's talk:

Half way into prep of this recipe, I said to Dean "this is more work than cooking a turkey dinner".  For amount of steps that this recipe requires to yield, let's face it, a SIMPLE SANDWICH, I am tempted to give it a "fail".  Maybe I was tired by that time of the day.  I don't know.  But it seemed fairly labor intensive.  Broil the peppers, peel the peppers, slice the peppers.  Make the marinade.  Flatten the chicken breasts.  Marinate the chicken breasts.  Cook the chicken breasts.  Slice the chicken breasts.  Butter the bread.  Mayonnaise the bread.  Slice the cheese.  Layer, layer, layer.  HMMMM.  DON'T KNOW ABOUT THIS...

Once we sat down for supper, my "fail" rating quickly became an "oh-this-is-ever-so-good-of-course-it-is-a-pass".  It really IS tasty.  Really. 

So, when Dean asked if it is a "Make Again" recipe, I had a hard time answering that question.  No question, buying jarred roasted red peppers would ease the work load.  Making the marinade and marinating the chicken overnight would spread the work out over a couple of days, if you are inclined to be organized.  ...Sometimes I am, sometimes I'm not....  I've often thought that it would be a quick kitchen tip to grill a whole package of chicken breasts as soon as you get home from the store, slice and freeze them, and use for salads or other recipes that require cooked chicken.  Or, maybe you could skip the marinating step and simply add the flavors of the sundried tomatoes/pesto in the mayonnaise mixture alone.  That would help, too.

So there, my first "I'm not sure" rating for this "Make Again" blog that is supposed to provide you with recipes that are ALL "Make Again" quality!  The point to be made here is that, flavor-wise, it's fantastic.  Work-wise, not as fantastic as I'd like it to be.  Are there ways to work with the ingredients/prep that will make it more friendly?  I think so.  So, yes, "Make Again" - Grilled Chicken and Roasted Red Pepper Panini's.  Go for it!

(I don't have a panini grill, by the way.  You could brown the sandwich on a griddle, or in a frying pan, and it is recommended that you place another pan on top of the sandwich to weigh it down, I guess to brown and compact it like a panini grill would do.  We used our George Foreman grill with fantastic results.  Once, we attempted a panini sandwich in our waffle maker with mediocre results.)

To read Pioneer Woman's far more entertaining blog post of this recipe, follow this link:  http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/ 

Comments

  1. So... at which point in the whole thing did you light the oven mitt on fire??? ;)

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  2. Ha ha! When I was roasting the peppers under the broiler! It really was kinda funny because the first thing I felt was the warmth on my hand, and then I smelled something, and then looked down and it was flaming! Yikes!

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  3. Look at the bright side... you get to go shopping for new oven mitts!! (By the way... if you wanted new ones that bad, you probably didn't have to trouble yourself with burning one just to get them... :) Glad you weren't hurt or you didn't burn the multi-step, much work meal!!

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  4. Regrettably, miTT, singular! Now I'll have to burn the other one, too, to make it even.... ;)

    ReplyDelete

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