No pictures. I know, I know. I ATE IT ALL, okay? ^_^

This is a great thing to do with leftover ricotta, which I often have, and then dither on what I should do with it. No dithering here! If you want to be luxurious, add a slice of prosciutto to each sandwich, or leftover sliced cooked sausage.

By the way, since I have your rapt attention: it’s one PANINO, two or more PANINI. Not that any of the fast-food places seem to know this or care. (;

Roasted Tomato Panini

Serves 4

  • 1 sourdough baguette, sliced into four sections, then sliced in half horizontally (so you get four long sandwich rolls)
  • ricotta (a couple tablespoons per sandwich, or more, if you don’t mind your sandwich being gooshy)
  • 8 Roma tomatoes, stems removed and each sliced lengthwise in half
  • mixed lettuces
  • olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, basil, oregano

Preheat the oven to 400°. Place the Roma tomato slices on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper, basil, and oregano, and pop in the oven to roast until wrinkled, slightly chewy, and smelling wonderful, somewhere between 40-50 minutes. You can do this step ahead and just pull the tomatoes out of the fridge whenever you need to make sandwiches. They’ll keep for a few days.

Pull out some of the soft inside of the bread. You can save that for making breadcrumbs or croutons or just eat it (which I will admit that I do, sometimes). Toast the bread if you want, or not. It’s good either way. Spread the bread thickly with ricotta, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and top with roasted tomatoes.

Toss the mixed lettuces with a little balsamic vinegar and olive oil and place on top of the tomatoes, top with the other half of the bread, and serve immediately.