Chicken Panini

I often watch Diners Drive-ins and Dives with my husband on Friday nights. It is kind of our tradition. It routinely gives me ideas of what to try in the kitchen, and always forces (yes I said force because he has no choice in the matter) my husband's tummy to growl :) He willingly watches with me because he also loves food and definitely loves it when I'm inspired to cook yummy things for him.

Last Friday we saw one of the restaurants make a roasted chicken panini with LOTS of fresh veggies and a roasted garlic sauce. So I knew that I had to try it. I wrote down the ingredients and figured it was worth a try. Although I did not love the sauce (others I shared my food with did) I LOVED the panini!

The first thing I did was pop two chickens breast down into my roasting pan, covered them with salt, pepper and garlic powder and then into the oven with the lid on at 400 degrees for 2 hours. Next I got the garlic ready to be roasted I just cut the top of of a head of garlic so that each clove is exposed and then drizzled with a little bit of oil. I used a tiny bit of melted butter but olive oil would work too. Then I wrapped in tinfoil and popped it into the oven on top of the roasting pan with the chicken. I left mine in for about 40 minutes until it was a golden brown caramel color like you see above.

Next I threw together the ingredients to go into the sauce.
1 head of roasted garlic
one whole egg
salt
pepper
a few drops of hot sauce (for me sriracha)
1 TBSP of lemon juice
2 TBSP ketchup
a splash of peperocini juice

I just buzzed them in my magic bullet until smooth. Although it definitely was interesting, the sauce was too strong of a flavor for me, my husband thought it was too spicy and my mom and sister loved it so try at your own risk ;)

I roasted two chickens because I was planning another type of chicken sandwich for later in the week and why not kill two birds with one stone ;) I took them out of the roaster, and picked off all of the meat. They made a good amount of broth during cooking so I strained it and put into a zip lock freezer bag because why waste something so wonderful!

Cut up toppings.

Assembled the yummyiness on some fresh whole wheat bread with a slice of Swiss cheese. I used a vinaigrette on mine since I wasn't a fan of the roasted garlic sauce and it was very good with the chicken and all the fresh veggies. 

Then I SQUISHED my sandwich in George foreman grill and then enjoy the toasty goodness!

FYI The George Foreman grill is one of my all time FAVORITE kitchen appliances :)

What I would do differently next time: Skip the sauce and just use whatever salad dressing I have in my fridge or come up with something new to try next time.