Mediterranean Chicken Paninis

For Christmas, the lady in my life gave my family a panini press. I can no longer imagine life without one. There's no easier way to make a sandwich taste gourmet. I've made breakfast, lunch, and dinner paninis. My latest adventure into the world of toasted sammiches is the Mediterranean Chicken Panini.

Ingredients:

4 Large Pieces of Round Flatbread

2 Packages of Purdue Short-Cuts Sliced Chicken Breasts

1/2 Medium-sized Onion

1 Small Container of Red Pepper Hummus

1 Small Can of Sliced Black Olives

2 Tomatoes

Mozzerella Cheese

Basil

Steps/Analysis:

Start by cutting your onion into thin slices and sauteeing them in a large pan with some olive oil. Before they're quite done, open up your Purdue Short-Cuts and throw them in as well. The sandwiches are going to be pretty thick and you want and you want the end result to be warm and melty, so it's a good idea to take the refrigerator chill off of the chicken.

In the meantime, cut the flatbread rounds in half. Each round is going to make one panini. Also, cut your tomatoes and cheese as thinly as you can manage.

For the basil, I attempted a chiffonade - a knife technique that I've seen on Food Network a few times, but never tried myself. Basically, stack a bunch of basil leaves one on top of the other and roll them up. Then, make small slices across the cylinder. You should have tiny strips of basil, but don't worry too much if your first try at the maneuver isn't too pretty. It's going to be covered in cheese anyway.

Spread the hummus across one flatbread half and sprinkle with olives. Spoon on enough chicken and onions to make a hearty sandwich on top of that. Next, layer on basil and tomato and, finally, the mozzarella cheese. Cover with the second flatbread half and carefully load it into the heated panini press. There should be enough supplies for four sammiches.

Serving:

Though this is a thick, hearty panini, it's not quite enough to make a meal on it's own. I paired it with some Progresso Italian Wedding soup, which complemented things nicely.

When all is said and done, this dinner took me 20 minutes from start to finish. The payoff is definitely worth the minimal time investment and you may even have left overs for lunch the next day.