Sage Chicken Panini
Inspired by the flavors of Chicken Saltimbocca (translated as 'jump mouth'), we combine chicken with sage and ham. Our twist is to serve the combination as a panini sandwich. Boneless skinless chicken, marinated with lemon and sage, is grilled and combined with ham and provolone in a sandwich. The resulting "grilled cheese" makes the mouth "jump" with interesting flavors. Originally served as part of: Again with the Brick.
Ingredients
- 3 medium boneless, skinless, about 6 ounces each chicken breasts (divided)
- 1 large lemon
- ½ teaspoon Dijon, country style mustard (Grey Poupon)
- salt & pepper
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 sprig fresh, containing 10 small leaves sage
- ½ loaf Farmers' market, country, unsliced wheat bread
- 2 ounces Italian imported Provolone cheese (grated)
- 3 slices deli, rosemary ham
- light, if desired mayonnaise
Instructions
We start by trimming our chicken of fat and putting them in a large resealable plastic bag. We wash our hands well.
Next, we zest the lemon over a piece of wax paper using our microplane. We have 1 teaspoon of zest. We squeeze the lemon halves into a measuring cup, discarding the seeds. We have 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. We combine the lemon juice, zest, mustard, some salt and pepper, and the olive oil in the measuring cup. Using scissors, we slice the sage leaves into the marinade.
We pour the mixture over the chicken breasts, seal the bag, and smoosh around the marinade. We set it aside in a bowl for 20 minutes.
We pre-heat our gas grill.
While the chicken is marinating, we cover our grilling brick with heavy duty aluminum foil.
We cut our bread in half lengthwise, and then slice almost all the way open. We have our cheese grated and the sliced ham ready.
Discarding the marinade, we grill the chicken on the hot grill for about 5 minutes per side. The chicken should be just cooked through.
We remove the chicken to a clean platter and let rest for a few minutes. Not all of the chicken will be used in the sandwiches—the rest will be used for other sandwiches and salads for a couple of lunches!
We slice two of the chicken breasts and layer it in the bread with the provolone and ham.
We put the sandwiches on the grill, one at a time, weighting them down with the brick facing the open sides of the sandwich so as to try and keep the ingredients inside. We cook for a few minutes on the one side, carefully remove the brick, flip the sandwich, and weight again. We keep them on the grill until the crust is toasty and the cheese is melted. We repeat with the remaining sandwich.
Each sandwich is sliced in half. We serve one or two per person, with mayonnaise if desired.
Ingredients
- 3 medium boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 6 oz each)
- 1 large lemon
- ½ tsp country-style Dijon mustard (Grey Poupon)
- salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 sprig fresh sage (about 10 small leaves)
- ½ loaf unsliced country wheat bread
- 2 oz imported provolone (grated)
- 3 slices rosemary deli ham
- light mayonnaise (if you like)
Instructions
What's a kid job?
A Kid job is a step kids can help with, with a grown-up nearby, not one they do on their own. Every kid is different, so go by what your child can do rather than by age. Roughly:
- Little ones (about 2 to 4) can stir, pour in ingredients a grown-up has measured, tear lettuce, wash vegetables and sprinkle toppings.
- Older kids (about 5 to 8) can also measure and level, crack eggs, whisk, roll and cut out dough, and put things together.
- Bigger kids can read the recipe aloud, keep track of the timer, and take on more of the cooking as they're ready.
Steps with a knife, microplane, skewers, stove, oven, grill or hot oil, or with raw meat, poultry or seafood, are marked Grown-up. Kids can still watch those, from a safe distance.
Grown-up
Trim the fat from the chicken and put it in a large resealable bag. Wash your hands.
Grown-up
Zest the lemon on the microplane (1 teaspoon) and squeeze the juice (2 tablespoons). Mix both with the mustard, salt, pepper and oil, and snip in the sage. Pour it over the chicken, seal, squish around, and let sit in a bowl 20 minutes.
Heat the gas grill and wrap the brick (the one for chicken under a brick) in heavy-duty foil.
Kid job
Cut the bread in half lengthwise and slice almost all the way open. Grate the cheese and have the ham ready.
Grown-up
Throw out the marinade and grill the chicken about 5 minutes a side, until just cooked through. Rest it on a clean platter a few minutes. Slice two breasts (save the third for lunches) and layer into the bread with the cheese and ham.
Grown-up
Grill each sandwich weighted with the brick against the open side a few minutes. Carefully lift off the brick, flip, weight again, and grill until toasty and melted. Cut in half and serve with mayonnaise if you like.