Grilled chicken and veggie panini with basil pesto

Note: Author does not enjoy or endorse the drinking of Tab. That stuff has been sitting there for about two years.

This week, I did something I had not yet done before. I wrote a menu for the week's dinners, deciding what I was going to make days in advance, and purposefully diversifying the meals from night to night. In the future, this blog will be updated with each recipe as I make it, but since this was week one of the endeavor, I'll simply recap the fun:

Monday:
Citrus saffron poached amberjack (dark-fleshed, firm fish, never had it before then)
Phytopasta salad

Tuesday:
Creamy butternut squash soup
Garlic bread

Wednesday:
Chicken and mushroom Parmesan
Prosciutto wrapped asparagus

Thursday:
Andouille and shrimp jambalaya
Cajun broccoli

Friday:
There were plans to make a Thai steak stirfry, but by sheer coincidence my husband and I were invited to go to Chow Baby with a good friend of ours, so perhaps next week I'll make my own.

Saturday:

...Oh, hey, that was tonight, wasn't it?

I made the hubs and I some grilled chicken and veggie panini oozing with basil pesto. Drooling yet? Here's the recipe for one full panino (like the one in the picture that my husband ate; I made a half version for myself):

2 slices of sourdough bread

1 chicken thigh

1/2 of a small zucchini

2 or 3 baby portobello (cremini) mushroom caps

4 thin slices of mozzarella cheese

1/6 of a medium red onion (I generally buy one onion a week and keep it in the fridge, chipping away at it for various recipes)

2 Tbsp. of basil pesto (handful of fresh basil, a couple slices of Parmigiano-Reggiano, one clove of garlic and a little fresh cracked black pepper)

To taste add salt, freshly ground black pepper, red pepper, garlic and onion powder, whatever dried herbs you feel like playing with.

Heat up your favorite cast iron skillet, grill pan or what have you, season up that chicken real nice and start there, searing for about 5 minutes on each side, depending on the thickness. Keep in mind that it's going keep cooking after you take it off. Set it aside.

Slice the zucchini thin (I did long, length-wise strips), peel apart and trim the onion pieces, leave the mushroom caps whole. Make sure that pan's got a little oil on it, then strategically place the veggies, don't overcrowd them. Season those veggies with everything but the salt while they sear, again about 5 minutes per side, then after they brown, salt appropriately (this draws out the water, which would cause them to steam had you added it earlier). Set them with the chicken.

At this point, you'll want to heat up your um...*cough* panini press *cough*. If you're left without one of these fanciful machines, you can just use that pan you've been using this whole time. Assemble the bread, mozzarella, chicken (slice it thin), veggies (slice those mushrooms now), and basil pesto however you would like and grill it until golden brown.

Mmm, sammich. Enjoy! Do pop in tomorrow for another recipe.