Mushroom & fontina paninis

This sandwich was so delicious that I had to stop and take a picture of it mid-meal — but apparently I was in too much of a food coma to notice that it was out of focus, so no photos today — sorry, Broke Socialite!

A word about panini bread: I completely lucked out, stopping at an Italian market the day before and buying Pane Turano — possibly the most perfect panini bread ever, because the wide slices fit just so snugly on my grill pan that it couldn't have looked more authentic. So I would try to find the widest sliced bread possible — not necessarily thick sliced; length (or width, whatever you want to call it — not my strong suit obviously) is more important than thickness here. A good quality bread will make or break your panini.

And now on to the non-recipe (because it's so easy, thank you, Bitty, for my new favorite cookbook, Kitchen Express)!

• ~2c sliced baby bella mushrooms (although any kind will work, really)
• Pat of butter
• ~1t fresh chopped oregano
• Salt & fresh cracked black pepper
• EVOO
• 4 slices panini bread
• Hunk of fontina cheese, shredded

1. Cook down the mushrooms in a saute pan with butter over medium heat until they've released a bit of liquid and look tender and yummy. Season with the oregano, salt and pepper.
2. Brush the outsides of your four pieces of bread with the olive oil and heat up your panini press or grill pan to medium to medium-high (see below).
3. Divide the mushrooms between two slices of panini bread and top with as much shredded fontina as will allow (before spilling out over the edges). Add another slice of bread on top.
4. If you're using a grill pan like me, set the paninis down and place a heavy pan on top so as to press the sandwiches together. Start your heat off rather moderate (medium for me) so as to slowly melt the cheese; flip the sandwiches and if you notice they have only slight grill marks so far on the first side, leave it on the second side for just as long — probably somewhere around five minutes each.
5. Once this original time has elapsed, crank the heat up a bit to get the grill marks more pronounced and the bread a bit more crunchy on the outside. The cheese should be thoroughly melty and gooey by now.
6. I like to get a little fancy with it when it's done and cut the sandwiches down the middle, on an angle. This gives it just a little gourmet touch; serves 2.

This is a method you'll want to come back to again and again. I think this kind of sandwich (well, we all know a good panini, don't we?) would be great with goat cheese, or perhaps just adding some prosciutto to the mix — you can really make it a kitchen-sink kind of thing with whatever you've got on hand. The best I ever had was tomato and mozzarella from a street vendor in Paris, so even simple ingredients can give you a big bang for your buck.

I served mine with oven-baked French fries, but they'd also be lovely with some salt-and-vinegar potato chips or a nice green salad. Enjoy!