It’s Thursday–the day I spend approximately two to three hours scouring the internet, flipping through cookbooks, and rifling through my big black book in search of amazing recipes and/or inspiration for things to cook this weekend. It’s a ritual that borders somewhere between dedication and obsession.
Nothing cheeses me off more than spending all those hours (HOURS!) researching on top of shelling out my hard earned moo-lah on ingredients, taking the time to cook the darned thing, and having it turn out to be a flop. After trying one-too-many frown-evoking recipes, I adopted a new blog bylaw in 2012: only post recipes that I would recommend (without hesitation) to a friend. Even though I painstakingly snap photos of everything I cook, if it ain’t delicious, it ain’t going on the blog. Jarrod knows exactly what I mean when I ask if a dish is “blog worthy,” and he’s pretty truthful about so-so meals (in a I’m-just-glad-you-cooked-please-don’t-make-me-do-this sort of way).
When he REALLY likes something, he doesn’t hesitate to let me know. Like this Chicken Pesto Panini, for instance, which he declared the BEST SANDWICH OF HIS LIFE.
If those aren’t fighting words, I don’t know what are.
Perhaps it was the homemade focaccia that I woke up bright and early to knead by hand.
Nah… definitely not. He has no idea what goes down before the 10am hour rolls around. So, maybe it was those adorable hand-dimpled nooks and crannies dusted generously with garlic salt and oregano?
Or the fresh made-from-scratch pesto. Basil, toasted almonds, parmesan, and garlic anyone?
And I did slave over my Griddler grilling that chicken up.
My guess is it had nothing to do with any of these things, though I was sure to emphasize each and every component of the sandwich that was in fact homemade as I wiggled my fingers in jazz-hand fashion in front of his face.
If you aren’t up for all the home-cooking, you could totally buy a loaf of focaccia (or use premade pizza dough) and use store bought pesto – but it’s a heck of a lot cheaper to make it yourself and I am ALL ABOUT any excuse to whip out my spirit fingers whilst bragging.
Chicken Pesto Paninis
- 2 large chicken breasts
- Olive Oil
- McCormick’s Montreal Chicken Seasoning (or your seasonings of choice)
- Black Pepper
- Focaccia (recipe below)
- Basil Pesto (recipe below)
- Monterey Jack (or cheese of choice)
Basic Focaccia
Recipe slightly adapted from the Joy of Cooking
- 1/2 package Active Dry Yeast (about 1 1/8 teaspoons)
- 5.5 ounces warm water
- 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading
- Olive oil
- 1.5 tsp salt
- Garlic salt
- Dried Oregano
Basil Pesto
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves, large stems removed
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup toasted almonds
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1/8 tsp salt (if almonds are salted, omit this)
- Pinch of black pepper
Step One and Only: Add all ingredients to a food processor and pulse, scraping down sides of bowl as needed, until thoroughly combined.
On a separate note, today is the boyfriend’s birthday! Now that we are once again the same age, I can no longer be referred to as a cougar or cradle robber… well, at least not for the next 5 months anyway.
9 Comments
Happy Birthday BF! Best sandwich ever is making me drool. Better than cake? Put a candle in that puppy!
Wow. Wow. Wowowowowowowowow! I can’t believe you even made the focaccio!
You say focaccio, I say focaccia.
Looks delicious! Pictures look great as well!
Thanks!
this looks awesome! Some roasted red peppers in there mmm MM. And happy bday to the boy!
Good idea!