About a year ago, we bought our first panini maker. It is such a great machine because it is so easy to just pop in any sandwich inside and make it into a panini.
We even prepared a panini buffet lunch in one of our Sunday family lunches that we hosted. It is easy to prepare plus everyone gets to make their own panini.
Our panini station had:
Vegetables: lettuce, mushroom, salad tomato, grilled red and green peppers
Spreads: reduced fat mayonnaise, regular mayonnaise, pesto, garlic anchovy butter, garlic parmesan butter, butter, olive oil, Nutella
Deli: bacon, pastrami, turkey breast ham, chicken ham, country ham, prosciutto, Jamon de Cagayan, Swiss bacon ham
Cheeses: Gruyere, Fontina, Provolone, Mozzarella, cheddar and quesong puti
Bread choices: whole wheat slice bread, plain slice bread, foccacia, pandesal, ciabatta
Other fillings: tuna flakes, corned beef, adobo flakes
potato chips or french fries for sidings
I was not able to take photos of my buffet but my sister in law, Tina, also had her own version of the panini buffet and these are her photos.
Skies the limit what you would like to offer in your panini buffet.
I scouted around also for Ciabatta bread and these are my finds: Le Couer – P 25.00 each, Deli France -P 125.00 for a pack of 5, S & R has it for around P 70.00 for a pack of 5 and in Salcedo market, a bread vendor sells it for around P 70.00 also for a pack of 5. I recently discovered in French Baker mini ciabattas ( P 54.00 for 16 pcs. ) which is perfect for me because I like my sandwiches small. They even have it in whole wheat ( P 60.00 for 16 pcs. ) . Their regular ciabatas are square in shape and not rectangular like the others.
I also pirated a panini recipe from my cousin, Ria. She made for us this Pesto Panini which had pesto, pecan nuts and gruyere cheese. So simple to make and so yummy. My pesto version – chopped fresh basil then add olive oil, parmesan cheese and salt. Spread a lot of it on the bread, add the pecan nuts ( a few pieces scattered ) and then add the gruyere cheese. I particularly prefer gruyere as suggested by Ria. TRY IT!
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