Grilled Cheese Panini with Avocado and Prosciutto

Today I decided to snap a few photos of the flowers that are blooming in my yard.  Everything is blooming so early this year, I wonder if it will continue at this early pace?

I snapped this photo a split-second before Gus came and dropped his frisbee on these daffodils and flattened them.

These daffodils were facing downward so I held my camera on the ground to get this shot.

These white daffodils with the pink centers are my favorite.  I'm thinking that I might have to cut them and bring them into the house where I can enjoy them.

The inspiration for today's recipe came about when I was standing in line at the deli yesterday.  The deli clerk was slicing prosciutto di Parma for the woman in front of me.  He was slicing it so thin and perfect.  I bet you could've read a newspaper through the slices, they were so transparent.  It was out of my control.  I had to buy some.

Then, I had to figure out what to do with the prosciutto.  My favorite thing would be prosciutto/mozzarella asparagus wraps , but unfortunately the rest of my family doesn't share my enthusiasm for asparagus.     

So I just started pulling some of my favorite things out of the fridge (fresh mozzarella) and the fruit bowl (avocado.....I'm still obsessed) and the bread box (awesome ciabatta) and decided on panini instead.

It was sooooooooo good.  In fact, it was such a perfect combination of salty/chewy-crunchy/melty-creamy that I made another one just like it today.

Today's Playlist

"Everybody Loves Somebody".......Dean Martin

"Swinging On A Star".........Frank Sinatra

"Mambo Italiano".......Alma Cogan

"Bella Notte"..........Lou Monte

"Sh-Boom".....The Chords

"A Teenager In Love"........Dion & The Belmonts

"Beyond The Sea"........Bobby Caldwell

"The Shiek Of Napoli"........Lou Monte

"You Make Me Feel So Young".......Frank Sinatra

"Sway"......Dean Martin

Grilled Cheese Panini with Avocado and Prosciutto

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

• fresh mozzarella
• tomato slices
• paper-thin slices of prosciutto di Parma
• avocado slices
• thick crusty bread or rolls (like ciabatta)

 Gather and prep your ingredients.  I didn't list any measurements on my ingredient list........it's just a starting point for you.  You may not be insane about avocado like I am or you may be like Mr. Terrific and want mountains of meat or maybe you're like my son and you don't even want your panini toasted and melted.  

In which case, it's not even a panini, it's just a sandwich.

What I'm trying to say is, use whatever amounts of whatever ingredients make you happiest.

 I take my knife and kind of hollow out the roll.  I just pull some of the fluffy bread out of the center.  It gives all those fillings a place to sit.

You can place your fillings into the roll in any order you like.  I like to have cheese on the bottom and then again toward the top because it will glue everything together.

So I started with slices of mozzarella and tomato........

 then added a bit of avocado.  Well, maybe more than a bit.

Then more mozzarella and a few slices of prosciutto.

Hmmm.  So much for hollowing out the bread so that the fillings will have a place to sit.  I can only imagine how overflowing this would be if I didn't hollow it out.

Put it in the panini grill and squish it.  Squish it good.

If you don't have a panini grill, a frying pan will get the job done.  Just put the panini into your frying pan and put another pan on top of it and squish it down.

I did not butter the panini grill.  The hard crust on the roll is not going to stick to the pan.  If you feel the need however, go ahead and butter your panini grill or frying pan.

Heat it until the fillings melt and the roll is grilled and crunchy.

Enjoy!