Ingredients:
2 peaches, peeled and sliced
4 oz soft goat cheese
5 springs worth of thyme leaves
1/2 baguette
Direction:
Cut the bread into sandwich sized portions. Slice each horizontally. Use a fork to mash the thyme into the cheese. If the cheese is very crumbly or cold, let it warm up slightly (closer to room temperature) and then mash. Spread on the top half of the crusty bread. Top the bottom half with a single layer of peaches.
Repeat for remaining ingredients. Close the sandwiches. Heat the panini press to medium and press until the cheese is soft and the sandwich is hot.
Yield: 2 big or 4 more modest sandwiches
My thoughts:
I like my panini press because it can make thin or thick sandwiches. As you can tell my tastes generally run towards the crusty bread, big flavored filling variety. I think it is because I am not really a sandwich person. If I am going to eat a sandwich, I want to eat a sandwich. As a child my mom would pack my lunch* and it rarely included a sandwich. I didn’t like kiddy staples like peanut butter and jelly and loathed soggy bread so more often than not, it would be tuna salad and crackers (packed separately, natch) or pasta salad or vegetable crackers and cream cheese or a mixture of things like a deviled egg, raw celery (packed in water to keep it crisp!) and dip and some fruit. Rarely was it as something as plebeian as a sandwich and on the rare times it was, all of the ingredients were packed separately for assemble at lunch to insure no bread sogging. So it really wasn’t until I was adult and quite possibly over the age of 25 I embraced the sandwich at all. Our local Italian deli has a wonderful sandwich that made me reconsider my no sandwich stance at least a bit. This sandwich is delicious because it makes the most of in season peaches by now overwhelming them with competing flavors. The goat cheese is mild and the thyme, while present, doesn’t overpower, it just keeps the sandwich on the savory side rather than letting it drift into dessert territory.
*She loves packing lunches. I think she’d still pack mine today if I wasn’t married and living in my own home. I am 99.9% sure she still packs my brother’s lunch and he is 25 and in grad school.
This looks delicious and it's only 8:52 am. Not exactly the sandwich hour, but maybe it has some crossover appeal.
So glad to hear I'm not the only one who can't find any interest a PB&J or plain old ham & cheese. I've just recently gotten into "real" sandwiches by borrowing flavor combination ideas from the Artful Gourmet in Owings Mills and …randomly… Safeway. They have a roast beef and bleu cheese sandwich that makes me want to experiment, or just have it for every meal.
My school lunches went much the same as yours: what other 5th grader brings a salad and dressing in separate containers? My mom and I also had a long trial-and-error experiment with how to preserve a grilled cheese sandwich without it getting too mushy. We went round and round once about how I could take brie and table water crackers, but I really preferred my cheese melted. By the time I left middle school I had a special arrangement with the lunch ladies that they would make a special grilled cheese and bacon sandwich and set it aside for me every day. I still have an issue packing lunch, and when I have kids I will have to find someone else to do it.
Wow,This looks soo good…
This sandwich looks so simple and so perfect. I love it.
yummy!!
Of course I would use a vegan cream cheese. but I love the idea.. it looks delish.
Love the peaches and goat cheese combo. Really makes a perfect summer sandwhich. Thanks for idea.
I'm not a big sandwich fan but this looks great. I think its an interesting combination. I dont hava press but I'm sure a heavy pot will squish it okay.
nicole
hmm a different one! looks yummy!
I just used 20 pounds of peaches to make jam – I wish I saved some to try this panini! I'm sure it'll be good with the jam too, but it'll lose some the texture from the soft peaches.
I'm a peach fiend… but I never thought of this combo. It looks lovely.