Saturday, May 14, 2011

Weekend cooking: Fun with the contact grill

About 2 weeks ago I bought a contact grill. It is a low budget one, but I am so happy with it! I never had a contact grill before and it is so multi functional! I already grilled some salmon on it (to use later in a salad) and I made different kinds of grilled cheese sandwiches. Since Zeronic and I lunch at home now a lot, and we still don't like a plain sandwich, this seemed like a good investment :) I will share two simple "recipes" that we tried out and you can expect more of these in the future :)


This is a panini with red pesto, spinach and mozzarella. We had this for dinner actually since it was such a big chunk. Just warm the spinach and drain as much moist out as you can. We used ciabatta bread and spread some pesto on each side. Then some spinach and mozzarella slices. You can also add tomato :) I liked this one, since it is really filling. The next time I will use less spinach though since it was a bit too much and the balance was off.


This one is a grilled cheese sandwich with garlic butter and mushrooms. Make sure you bake the mushrooms before placing them on the sandwich. I loved this one! It is easy, tasty and just right for a good lunch. Only it is too bad that these sammies are so boring to photograph. This is a case of they taste more exciting then they look :)

I would like to hear some suggestions for nice recipes on the contact grill or maybe vegetarian cooking books on the subject :) So please share your tips, if you have them :)

11 comments:

  1. I have one and I love it...and will admit that 90% of the time I use it to make pressed sandwiches...love the crunch, the melt...the YUM!

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  2. This looks wonderful. I loved grilled sandwiches! We use our contact grill for alot of vegetarian meals -- my husband's favorite is pitas filled with the TVP crumbles and pasta sauce. I use some olive oil on the pitas, and I add veggies to mine.

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  3. I have one, too, and we love it! We use it mostly for panini but I've made stuffed French Toast with Lemon Cream that was awesome! And potatoes came out great on there. Cook them ahead and then we squashed them down and grilled them in the press.
    http://theresalwaysthyme.blogspot.com/2010/08/spicy-grilled-potatoes.html

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  4. Forgot to say, your sandwiches look great!

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  5. I adore panini and grilled sandwiches. I've had good luck grilling eggplant and then using that with mozzarella and basil in a panini. I think I made a panini with asparagus in it last year, but I don't remember what else was between the bread.

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  6. No need to apologize for your sandwiches. They look and sound delicious. I really like the sounds of the first one although I'm not sure what red pesto is. Is that using red peppers?

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  7. They look awesome, so yummy. I haven't got a contact grill but seeing that I love those sort of sandwiches I have to consider getting one.

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  8. I love using black ovlive tapenade, or I buy jars of roasted red peppers. these both make wonderful additions to sandwichs.

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  9. I just got a panini press for Mother's Day last weekend. We are having so much fun experimenting with sandwich combinations!

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  10. Alweer zo'n mooi blogdesign! Doe je dat zelf? Weet niet wat bento's zijn maar dat ga ik nu s even uitvinden :)

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  11. Ik doe dat gedeeltelijk zelf. De template is van the cutest blog on the block. Maar de layout erop aanpassen en de kleuren instellen doe ik zelf. Ook de banners heb ik zelf gemaakt.

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