Chicken Paninis

This is my favorite hot sandwich recipe totally invented by me. I found this really yummy sun dried tomato spread at Target which I used in my paninis. It is an Archer Farms brand, so you can only get it at Target. It is in a small jar found next to the marinade section of the store. However, when I went to buy it to make this recipe, they did not have the same exact sun dried tomato spread I usually use. So I used a sun dried tomato dip that I so happened to find while passing the potato chip section. I use dips or spreads in my paninis because they have lots of flavor. Target has a nice variety of flavors to choose from.

Ingredients:

Flat sliced bread of your choice, I used some sourdough bread

Dip or spread in your choice of flavor, I especially prefer the sun dried tomato flavors

Cooked chicken of your choice, I always cook mine on my indoor grill. Or if you want to speed things up buy sliced deli chicken.

Sliced deli cheese of your choice, I used provolone in mine

1 tbs of Olive oil for every 2 paninis to be made

1/4 tsp of Dried Italian herbs and 1/8 tsp of garlic salt for every 2 paninis to be made

Condiments such as onions, peppers, tomatoes, etc... that you would like on your panini

Directions:

I used my George Foreman grill to heat my paninis, melt the cheese, and create nice grill marks on my paninis. If you dont have a grill you can heat them up on a skillet.

Start by cooking your chicken if you have not done this already. After it is cooked, chop it up into smaller pieces. Next spray your grill or skillet with nonstick cooking spray and turn it on to medium heat.

Arrange your sliced bread on a flat surface. Below is a picture of the sun dried tomato dip I used, which can only be found at Target. I'm sure you can find a similar substitute at any other grocery store.

Slice up your condiments. I used roma tomatoes and red onions for my paninis. I decided to try and steam cook my red onions a bit to soften them up. I steamed them instead of cooking them in a skillet because I thought they would be juicier, and it worked.

Next I mixed the olive oil, dried Italian herbs, and garlic salt, in a small bowl. Use a marinade brush or in my case I used a rubber spatula, to spread the olive oil mixture on the back side of the bread slices. Make sure that the olive oil side of the bread touches your grill or skillet. The olive oil will add a lot of flavor and will help crisp up the bread a bit.

Flip the bread slices to the other side. Generously lather up the inside of the paninis with the spread or dip of your choice. Next, I put my cheese slices, tomatos,chicken and red onions on the panini.

It is time to grill them for about 8-10 minutes on each side. You want the bread to be golden and crusty, and the cheese to be melted.

                                                       Before                              After

Enjoy!