The Perfect "Panini"

There are certain dishes that you'll never forget. Flavors attribute to memories and from time to time you'll look back on something you ate and develop a craving for that hit-the-spot meal. One of my dishes that I constantly crave is from the Mosquito Cafe in Galveston, Texas. I was in Galveston for a few days on vacation and after trying the Mosquito Cafe's "Turkey Divinity" sandwich once, I was hooked. I made sure to get another one before I went back home to Austin but that second sandwich doesn't hold someone over for two years. So today when I was thinking about the layers of garlic-herb mayo, bacon, turkey, brie, and green apples all sitting upon a luscious french baguette, I decided it was time to make myself one. 

It was simple to make and really doesn't require a recipe. I used probably about a half cup of mayonnaise, a teaspoon of chives, parsley, tarragon, and garlic to make a batch of garlic-herb mayonnaise and that became the base layer of my "Turkey Divinity". Don't worry, I definitely did not put all of that mayonnaise on my sandwich. I just made a lot to last me the rest of the week!

Next on the sandwich came a piece or two of some hickory smoked bacon that I cooked in the same pan I planned to grill my sandwich in. Why? Because I made multiple unhealthy choices when making this sandwich and one of them was to use rendered bacon fat instead of butter to get my bread nice and golden. 

On top of the bacon was a layer of Boar's Head turkey from the deli at my grocery store, not pre-packaged sandwich meat. This sandwich deserves nothing but quality ingredients. 

That is why after the turkey came some julienned (Julienne is a knife cut for those who don't know) green apples, whose bright crispness cut through the heaviness of the meat and mayonnaise. Guess what? That is not all the bright crispness of the apple cut through, the final ingredient to be stacked on the french baguette was another of french origin, brie. Oh brie, how beautifully creamy and delicious it is. It is my favorite cheese by far and certainly makes the sandwich what it is. I used a decent amount of brie, like I said I love it but every ingredient proportion is up to who is eating it. That is why there is no recipe, it's up to you!

For those of you who questioned why I have the word "panini" in quotation marks in the title of the post, it is because I don't have a panini press. So, my "panini" is a sandwich I put on a grill pan and smoosh down with a hot, heavy cast iron skillet. It comes out like a panini but I can't quite call it one, it really is a smooshed sandwich. 

What a beautiful smooshed sandwich it is. It made a perfect lunch and I highly recommend it to try. Did I mention how easy it is to make?

-Madison