Delicious Strawberry Basil and Goat Cheese Panini

Hello everyone, You’re most welcome to my blog, no1recipe. In this post, we will tell you how to make Delicious Strawberry Basil and Goat Cheese Panini.

A simple, grilled strawberry and goat cheese sandwich with gourmet flavor, no panini press required. Serve with a side of easy-to-make balsamic honey sauce.

For once, I wake up feeling genuinely refreshed after a weekend. I cleaned my house yesterday morning and skipped my to-do list for the afternoon, choosing instead to camp out on my bed with a book. Important! Later, my friend and I rode our bicycles to a bar to watch an Oklahoma City Thunder game, because suddenly I began to care about basketball. I don’t know exactly why — maybe it’s because we’re in the playoffs, or because our players are cute, or because I’m becoming just like my mom.

Delicious Strawberry Basil and Goat Cheese Panini

Anyway, this strawberry panini is great and I’d like for you to make it pronto, please. The word sandwich falls short as a descriptor; this is a panini, or more accurately a singular panino, regardless of the lack of grill marks. This panino consists of warm, jammy strawberries, tangy goat cheese, and fresh basil sandwiched between golden brown, buttery whole wheat levain, served with a side of balsamic honey dipping sauce. You want to make it right now, right?

I know how to make panini sandwiches at home without one of those newfangled panini cookers or grill pans. It’s as simple as making a grilled cheese and squishing it with something heavy (find more detailed instructions in the recipe below).

I knew I wanted to attempt a savory take on the chocolate and cherry panini recipe, so I first tried goat cheese and cherry filling, but it wasn’t quite right. As much as I enjoy fresh cherries, they seem to be cloyingly sweet when cooked. Later, I spied the strawberries next to the basil in my fridge, and this panini was born. It is, if I say so myself, perfect, especially with the addition of balsamic honey sauce.

The balsamic honey sauce is a super simple recipe for you, Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts. I was walking out the door when I found this cookbook wrapped up on my doorstep, so of course I had to pause to flip through it. Then, entranced by the ingenious simplicity of the recipes and the unexpectedly stunning photographs, I had to sit down and admire the pages more carefully. The balsamic honey sauce is only my first recipe to try from the book and it’s so simple it barely counts as a recipe, but I assure you there will be many more.

Delicious Strawberry Basil and Goat Cheese Panini

Recipe by K.B MarksCourse: SaladsCuisine: N/ADifficulty: Easy

Servings

5

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

20

minutes

Calories

865

kcal

Total time

30

minutes

A simple grilled sandwich with gourmet flavor served with a side of balsamic honey sauce. No panini press required!

Ingredients

• Panini

• 2 slices of whole wheat levain bread, thinly sliced

• 1.5 ounces goat cheese

• 3 to 4 strawberries

• a few basil leaves, whole or roughly chopped

• black pepper, freshly ground

• 1 tablespoon butter, or less

• Balsamic Honey Sauce

• ⅔ cup balsamic vinegar

• ⅓ cup honey

Directions

• Spread a layer of goat cheese over both slices of bread. Slice your strawberries relatively thinly by cutting off slices from the outside of the strawberries, leaving the center behind. Spread strawberries over one slice of bread, and basil on the other. Sprinkle both sides with black pepper, and lay the basil slice face down on top of the strawberry slice.
• Heat a small to medium skillet (cast iron is best) over medium heat. Melt one to two teaspoons of butter in the skillet, then add the sandwich. Cover it with a plate or appropriately sized dish and weigh it down with something heavy, like canned beans or a cast iron skillet. Cook until the bottom of the bread is lightly browned, about two to three minutes, then lift the sandwich from the pan, add another pat of butter, let it melt, and return the sandwich to repeat on the other side. Slice each sandwich in half and serve warm.
• To make the balsamic honey sauce, combine the balsamic vinegar and honey in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Simmer, stirring constantly, until the liquid is reduced by about half (15 minutes or more). Pour the liquid into a small bowl to cool.

Notes

• Preparation tip: I recommend making the balsamic honey sauce first. Save leftovers for drizzling over Greek yogurt, vanilla ice cream, pizza, peaches, and berries.
  
• Scale this recipe: If you’d like to make multiple sandwiches at once, you might try Bittman’s other cooking method: preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and butter your slices of bread on one side. Place the bread, and butter side down, on a baking sheet and spread the topsides with goat cheese.
• Add fillings as directed below, and top with another slice of bread, spread with goat cheese on the underside and butter on the topside. Cover the sandwiches with another baking sheet and weigh the sheet down with something heavy, like a cast-iron skillet or canned goods, and let it sit for 5 minutes.