M. and I have tried and assessed a few more paninis in addition to a sandwich I thought was a panini…but turned out to just be a cold sammich.

First on the docket is Sausage, Grapes and Gorgonzola Dolce                      ***1/2

First off, I couldn’t find gorgonzola dolce for the life of me, or any spreadable blue cheese for that matter. So I ended up having to use Babybel blue cheese wedges. Not terrible, but not quite the high end cheese I was hoping for. Second, I had no idea how absolutely disgusting cooking sausage was. I’m used to the frozen-pop-it-in-the-microwave kind, and this was my first experience with real sausage lengths. When I had to butterfly the sausage and the casing split and the sausage innards popped out….oh god.

The panini itself was ok. Very simple to assemble, just the cheese, grapes and sausage. M. says there could have been more cheese (I only used about a wedge per sandwich) and more grapes (I used what the recepe called for). I thought it was ok, it wasn’t my favorite but then again I’m not a huge sausage fan (hurrhurr). Nothing really to do with the recipe, but I would probably only make this again if M. asked for it.

Barbecued Chicken with Blue Cheese and Celery                                         ****

I thought this was really good, and I’m not usually a bbq chicken fan (it also probably helped that–possibly for the first time– I used exactly what the recipe called for and didn’t cheat anywhere). I think I liked this a lot more than M. did, he said he only liked it a little more than the sausage one, but I liked it a lot more. I would definitely make this one again.

Italian Tuna Salad with Avacado and Mozzarella                                         ****1/2

M. was very skeptical about this one at first. He didn’t even want to try it, but grudgingly had a bite…and then wanted his own. I kind of used whatever I found in the kitchen for this one, and it was still great! Didn’t have white wine vinegar, so I subbed apple cider vinegar but only used half of what was called for. Also left out the capers, since I didn’t have any. It might be pretty good with them included, but it was awesome enough withough. I made it yesterday for lunch, and then again today for lunch. Kinda hooked.

Roast Beef with Whole Grain Mustard and Cranberries                                ***

This was the one I thought was a panini, but then realized was a cold sandwich. So I made one hot and one cold to see which was better (it was the cold). Still not a sandwhich that blew us away though. M. thinks that if the mustard wasn’t so tangy and the roas beef was thicker cut it would have been better. It’s possible. I’d be willing to tweak it and mess around, it does have potential. With some work, this could be a good sandwich!

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