Panini Genius

Last night John and I made panini for dinner. The panino is a typical late night food here at the Grady house; even Galen and Nolan will go to the effort to make one for themselves as a quick snack. So there's always some kind of bread/cheese/meat combo around for panini. UNtil now I generally stuck with the typical mozzarella/tomato/basil/Italian meat version as seen below. This one has prosciutto.

But we decided to change it up a little last night so we made the usual kind, an apple/cheddar/grilled chicken version, and finally a raspberry/walnut/goat cheese/chicken version. This last one was highly successful. The apple & cheddar was good but I think I'd want to try a different kind of cheese with that. It veered a little too much to the low budget grilled cheese as it was. The raspberry/walnut/goat cheese was delicious though. I don't have a picture of it because we ate it too fast but next time I'll get one.
It's terribly easy to make though. A medium-thin layer of regular raspberry jam, crumbled goat cheese, crushed walnuts (pat them into the cheese so they stick, and then thin sliced grilled chicken. Throw it on the press and enjoy. The raspberry lends some sweetness and cuts the goat cheese flavor a bit. And the cheese is very smooth, contrasted with crunchy walnuts. John always needs protein in his meals so that's why the chicken was added and it worked. I meant to put some fresh spinach leaves on there too but the tasting audience was impatient so that will have to wait for next time.