Spicy meats and cheese in a warm and crusty pressed sandwich.
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 cup mayo
- 1/4 tsp dried or fresh basil
- 1/4 lb. deli sliced ham
- 1/4 lb. deli sliced spicy salami
- 1/4 lb. deli sliced spicy capicollo
- 8 slices of provolone cheese
- 1/2 cup jarred spicy sliced pepper rings, drained
- 1 jar roasted red bell pepper strips drained and patted dry with paper towels
- 4 large ciabatta sandwich rolls split
- Carbohydrate 7.28108500593994 g
- Cholesterol 7.64400000646186 mg
- Fat 9.822260008301 g
- Fiber 0.034649998664856 g
- Protein 0.32340000022368 g
- Saturated Fat 1.44107250121781 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (115g)
- Sodium 209.125000176707 mg
- Sugar 7.24643500727508 g
- Trans Fat 0.441805000372798 g
- Calories 116 calories
Step-by-step
- Combine the first three ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together.
- Spread the mayo mixture on the insides of each roll.
- On the bottom of each roll top with a slice of cheese, followed by a layer of roasted red bell pepper strips, a layer of ham, salami, capicollo, pepper rings, and top it with another slice of provolone cheese.
- Place the top on the roll on top and use a hot panini press or indoor grill to press the sandwich together for about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Enjoy warm.
Unlike a traditional sub sandwich served cold on a soft baguette, a pressed Italian panini relies entirely on thermal energy transforming the structure of the bread and rendering the fat within the cured meats. When scaling this preparation for a large group, matching the thermal output of the press to the volume of dense ciabatta rolls becomes the primary operational challenge. Stacking more than two sandwiches onto a standard residential countertop press simultaneously will overload the heating elements, resulting in lukewarm cheese and rubbery ham rather than a crisp exterior and molten interior.
Maintaining uniform pressure is the single technique that determines success or failure when pressing layered sandwiches containing wet ingredients like roasted peppers and pepper rings. Excess surface moisture must be completely blotted away with paper towels to prevent steam from preventing the bread crust from achieving adequate browning. Heavy weight applied evenly across the top plate ensures the provolone melts into the surrounding cured meats, creating a cohesive internal structure that holds together cleanly during cutting.
Adjusting yields downward requires careful attention to fat ratios if individual components are reduced. Halving the recipe works best when maintaining the full ratio of mayonnaise spread, which acts as a barrier protecting the porous ciabatta crumb from absorbing moisture released by the pickled pepper rings during pressing.
