Roasted Garlic Chicken Panini

Ingredients:

6 Chicken Thighs

2 T butter

Salt (to taste)

Peper (to taste)

1 Head Garlic

Olive Oil

Cheese of choice

Tomato

Green Leaf Lettuce

Description:

This is a fairly simple roasted garlic chicken panini sandwich perfect for making a weeks worth of filling and tasty lunches or after work snacks. The garlic is sweet and delicious, the chicken moist and scrumptious. With the addition of fresh tomato and lettuce it has light and springy notes too. Perfection.

Preparation:

Start with the chicken. I took a casserole pan buttered it and placed the chick thighs lightly seasoned with salt and pepper and a small dollop of butter on top. You can use any cut of chicken you want, but I find that thighs have the most meat for the price and they are always moist it seems too. Place this in a ban marie for ensured moistness and place in the oven to roast on a low temperature until an internal temp of 180 degrees Fahrenheit is reached. Personally I used a temperature of 290 degrees Fahrenheit and it took about two to two and a half hours.

Mean while take a whole medium sized head of garlic and peal each and every delicious clove. Take some foil and place the cloves inside with some olive oil making sure that each clove is liberally coated with the oil. Now close the packet like a little pillow and place into the oven along with the chicken. Check periodically on the cloves, they should be lightly brown and tender, and not at all crunchy when they're ready. Generally this takes about 30 minutes to an hour.

When the chicken is done peal off the skin and set aside for a cooks treat for alter. Pull off the meat from the bones and lightly shred in a bowl with a couple of forks. Take the roasted garlic and place it in the bowl with the chicken. Use your hand and mash up the garlic coating the chicken all over with the roasted garlic.

Now you're ready to assemble the sandwiches. Take how ever much chicken you want, add some cheese. Now place in your panini press or on a skillet to toast and melt the cheese inside. When you have a golden brown outside on the sandwich remove and place a slice of tomato and lettuce reassemble cut on the diagonal, and serve.

For me this recipe made seven sandwiches. One gloriously garlicy moist chickeny sandwich for lunch or a snack for each day. This particle sandwich works great cold or warm by the way and also as a side note, it pairs pretty well with the acorn squash soup below. Enjoy! :-)