Pesto Chicken Panini

We received our first wedding gift a couple weeks ago and it was the Cuisinart Griddler to make panini's. This is what Andy really wanted so he was glad to receive it. I am not familiar with panini's but I was excited to receive our first gift and use it. I went online this past weekend and found a great recipe for a pesto chicken panini.

Ingredients
1 package of chicken
1/2 cup of pesto (Andy made his fabulous pesto)
1/2 cup of mayo
Slices of mozzarella cheese
Ciabatta bread (we used panini bread)
Baby arugula
Tomato
Fresh basil leaves

Marinate the chicken in a 1/4 cup of the pesto for at least an hour and then grill the chicken until cooked all the way through. In a bowl stir the remaining pesto with the mayo and then spread the pesto mixture on each side of your bread. Place the sliced mozzarella on each side of your bread. On the top bread add the arugula, tomato, and basil leaves. On the bottom half add your chicken breast.



Put the top on the bottom and place on your griddle or panini maker. Grill for 3 - 5 minutes. This is yummy.


This is what I learned:
Next time I won't slice the chicken breast and stack it on the bread high. This made the sandwich very thick and hard to grill. My ingredients started sliding everywhere and it got really messy. Also, I didn't let it grill long enough as my panini bread didn't get very crispy. Oh well, I have plenty of chances to make a lean mean panini sandwich and we look forward to using our wedding gift many more times so I can get this down right...until next time.