TBM Panini

I am going to wrap up tomato week with my favorite panini: tomato, basil, and fresh mozzarella.  There is a chain restaurant near us, Cosi, that makes one on their flat bread and it has a sun-dried tomato spread that I am addicted to.  It adds more tomato flavor into the panini, and more tomato is always a good thing.

I love how the bread just gets a little toasty and the cheese just starts to melt and the tomatoes get warm.  The tomatoes are perfect right now for this panini.

I like to order it like this: bread, sun-dried tomato spread, fresh mozzarealla, basil, good olive oil, tomato with seasoned with salt and pepper, and then topped with bread.

Rubbing the outside of the bread, top and bottom with cheap olive oil makes it extra tasty.

We have a panini pan, but if you don't have this or a panini maker, you could use a regular pan and a brick covered in aluminum foil to press the sandwich flat.

We left ours on the first side a little too long.  But that's ok,  I love the blackened parts.

Thanks so much for stopping by for tomato week.  I had a delicious time sharing all my favorite ways to eat tomatoes with you!!

Printable Recipe
TBM Panini- Recipe by me
Ingredients
panini bread
Fresh Mozzarella- 2 slices per panini
Tomato Sliced- 2-3 per panini
Fresh Basil- 3-4 leaves per panini
Sun-dried tomato spread (recipe follows)
2 T good olive oil per panini
4 T cheap olive oil per panini

1.  Preheat pan, on high, turn down the heat to medium wheh you put the panini on.
2.  Layer the panini as follows: bread, sun-dried tomato spread, fresh mozzarealla, basil, good olive oil, tomato with seasoned with salt and pepper, and then topped with bread.
3. Rub the outside of the panini with cheap olive oil.
4. Place in hot pan and press down the panini or place in your panini maker.  It only takes a few minutes per side so watch carefully.


Sun-dried tomato spread- I altered the recipe from Allrecipes.com
Ingredients

1 6 oz can tomato paste

1/4 c sun dried tomatoes

1/4 t salt

1 clove garlic

1 T fresh chopped basil

1/4 c olive oil

1/2 t sugar

in a food processor (or blender) blend tomato paste, sun-dried tomatoes, salt, garlic, chopped basil.  Add extra olive oil if it is too thick.