Breakfast Panini

Sandwiches for breakfast are pretty common as take-out food for obvious reasons, but a breakfast sandwich made at home with premium ingredients and eaten leisurely can be even better. A frying pan will do the job, and if you have a cast iron one that is the best choice unless you have a sandwich or panini press, in which case it’s time to fire it up. Either way, you probably will have room to make only one or two at a time.

 

SERVES 2

 

Ingredients:

4 thick slices of Italian country style bread

Butter for the bread

 

Instructions:

6 paper thin slices of ham; suggest Black Forest ham

4 tablespoons grated sharp cheddar cheese

 

1 tablespoon butter or margarine

2 eggs

 

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

 

. . . . . . . .

 

▪ Spread a little butter on one side of each piece of bread and set them buttered side down. Arrange 3 slices of ham on each of the unbuttered sides of two pieces of bread. Have the grated cheese ready. If you are going to use a press, preheat it.

 

▪ Heat the butter or margarine in a frying pan on medium heat. Crack the eggs one at a time into a small bowl and carefully slide each egg into the frying pan.

 

▪ Cook until the whites are set and form an opaque and solid white frame around the yolk which has thickened. Use a spatula to carefully turn the egg over. Cook for another 15 seconds, then remove from the heat.

 

▪ Use the spatula to lift each egg onto one of the ham covered pieces of bread. Quckly season with salt and pepper to taste and cover each egg with half of the cheese. Top with the remaining two pieces of bread, buttered side facing up.

 

▪ Carefully transfer the panini either back to the frying pan or to the press. For the frying pan method, cook until the bottom bread is lightly browned, and then turn the panini to brown the other side. If some of the cheese falls out, just push it back in. If you are using a press you won’t have to turn the panini to get both sides brown, but check every few minutes to make sure it isn’t burning.