Sandwiches in Italian Suits

Joanna Lefebvre

Gabriel Gomez

Principal Chef
UCLA Medical Center
Los Angeles, CA

"In order to enhance our deli counter without doing a complete overhaul, we decided to purchase a panini grill. Real estate is pretty valuable in our cafè, so the grill proved to be a really economical enhancement.

"We developed a complete panini program and have received a lot of positive feedback from customers.

"Some of our more interesting—and popular—panini sandwiches are the vegetarian and the cilantro chicken offerings. The vegetarian panini is a balsamic marinated grilled eggplant with Swiss cheese, tomato and basil pesto mayonnaise. The cilantro chicken is a chicken breast, marinated in olive oil infused with cilantro and garlic that is also served with the pesto mayo.

"Since it's always good to have a sandwich that offers a little heat, we do a Creole chicken panini on focaccia that we serve with chipotle mayonnaise."

Gerry Fortin

Head Pastry Chef
The College of William
and Mary Williamsburg, VA

"When we started making different flavored pound cakes, we thought it might be interesting to use the slices in a panini-type dessert. As it turns out, the pound cake marks really well in the press.

"You can use just about any flavor of pound cake: plain, chocolate, marble, or strawberry. Be creative. Use what you have available. For the filling try nutella, raspberry preserves, ganache or flavored cream cheese.

"To assemble, butter both slices of the pound cake, add 1/2 oz. filling inside, and top with the other slice of cake. Use a clean panini grill and close the lid. Make a few to test temperature and doneness, as grills are different. Cut in half at the corner. Top with a dessert sauce and rosette of whipped cream.

"One of our most popular versions is made with a chocolate hazelnut spread as the filling. We'll use plain pound cake, fill, grill and drizzle raspberry sauce on top. It's delicious."

Carol Kelly

Food Service Director

Richard Reale

Executive Chef
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA

"Last year we launched an entire station—named Savory—for upscale sandwiches. It's sort of a spinoff of the traditional deli concept where we menu out-of-the-ordinary sandwiches and paninis.

"In addition to featuring a 'Panini of the Month', some of which transition into standard menu items, we customize all of our sandwiches by naming them after streets or cities around the area."

UPenn's Panini Parade...

Delancy—roast beef, provolone, arugula, roasted peppers and brown mustard on whole wheat

Columbus—Italian chicken cutlet with provolone, roasted peppers and pesto mayonnaise on whole wheat roll

Locust—Italian tuna with capers, olives, roasted peppers and arugula on sourdough

Logan—smoked turkey with arugula and spicy pear and Brie spread on focaccia

Cherry roasted chicken—with Swiss cheese, red onion arugula and Pesto Mayonnaise on Sourdough

Rittenhouse—dill Havarti cheese with arugula, tomato and sun dried tomato-balsamic spread on sourdough

Pine smoked turkey—with Swiss cheese and cole slaw on sourdough

South Philly—salami, capicolla, mortadella, proscuitto, provolone, lettuce and tomato with pesto mayonnaise on foccacia

South Street—smoked turkey with arugula, red onion

and orange cranberry mayonnaise on whole wheat

Society Hill—raspberry chipotle chicken with arugula and tomato on sourdough

Baltimore—roasted chicken, romaine, red onion with Caesar dressing on focaccia

Liberty—artichokes, tomato and sharp provolone with Parmesan artichoke spread on focaccia

Chestnut—roast beef, ham, arugula, tomato, pickled vegetables and olive spread on ciabatta

Sansom Street—fresh made braided pretzel with turkey, cheddar and spicy mustard

Spruce—ham and Brie with bacon, arugula, tomato and honey mustard on ciabatta

Cu-Delphia—roast pork, ham with brown mustard, mayo and dill pickle on ciabatta

Recipes by Richard Reale, Executive Chef, University of Pennsylvania.

Photo by the American Egg Board