Toasts & Paninis
Paninis
not just a grilled sandwich, but a contemplation on time and space
‘Panini’ is the Italian word for ‘patience.’ Ok, that’s not true, but in spirit it is. A good panini is all about taking it slow. If you’ve ever found yourself at a café growing impatient because the panini is taking so long to make, you will understand why once you start making them yourself at home. Of course, you will need a panini maker! And sliced low carb bread.
Since it takes so long to grill a panini, you may as well take your time preparing it. Panini-ing is slow grilling, where you wrap a sandwich in wax or parchment paper, making sure that the outer edges of the sandwich are brushed with oil or vegan margarine so that you get the nice dark parallel stripes across the outer sides, which is like proof to the world that it is a panini.
So, take your time making it. With a panini, every little bit of attention and care you take will have big payoffs. A few pieces of fresh herbs here and there, a thin layer of pesto spread across one edge, getting the thickness of a tomato slice just right, deciding whether a tapenade should go at the bottom or top of the layers — these micro decisions will make a huge difference in the whole experience of eating it.
Then, there’s the wait time. Make sure to preheat the panini while you are preparing it — you may as well, in the interest of time efficiency, so the slow grilling can start immediately once you place your paper-wrapped sandwich into the electric maw. Somewhere between 8–15 minutes of slow grilling works well, depending on how warm, smashed, dark lined, cheese melted, and flavor married you want the sandwich to be.
But wait, there’s more slow to come! Because your panini will be very hot when it is done, too hot to eat, actually (without causing mouth injuries), you need to continue having patience and wait until it cools so you can finally enjoy it.
So, ‘panini’ really does mean ‘patience’ in Italian! Take your time making the sandwich, slow grilling it, and cooling it down. Making paninis is worthy of a Zen mindfulness ritual, analogous to the tea ceremony of Japan. Panini-zen certainly seems culturally needed in Italy, where it seems that, out on the streets, everyone is always trying to run you over in their honking speed-modified Vespas and amusingly tiny cars. Italy could really use a Panini Zen movement, if only to make it easier to cross the streets in one piece!
