Breakfast Panini

jfm0830

Today I found myself home alone with nobody to cook for. Besides me that is. I decided it was a good time to do a test run of a recipe from Perfect Panini called Breakfast Panini. Unlike the recipe which called for doing everything in a frying pan and a panini press, I wanted to do everything on the BGE Half Moon Cast Iron Grill Griddle. This was the perfect use for it. I would have the grill griddle heated to the same temperature as they called for for the frying pan. I would start off using the flat side to cook the eggs and bacon and toast the English muffins. Once they were done I would assemble the panini and flip the grill griddle over and used the side with the ridges as my panini press. Normally I would do everything out at the grill, but with temps in the single digits and winds gusting into the low 20's mph range I decide to build the panini indoors so as not to cool off the food too much.

The weather today is precisely why I picked up a Looftligher two weeks ago. I was having trouble with matches and fire starters blowing out on windy days like this. It was sometimes taking me 15 minutes to light both Eggs. No such issues with the Looftlighter. The only thing that was a little different is the time to light the coals was about double what was advertised. Since Wicked Good Weekend Warrior has a reputation of being somewhat difficult to light, I am sure that explains the longer time for lighting. This really isn't a big deal it just is a little more time. Other than that it couldn't be easier and the wind caused zero problems. On to the cook....

Everything is ready to head out for round one on the Egg using the flat side of the grill griddle. The Egg has been stabilized at 375 degrees. For round one we have English muffins which have been buttered on the cut sides, bacon, 2 eggs, some butter for the grill, a salt & pepper grinder and two Egg rings which have been coated with butter on the inside & bottom. 

The English muffins & bacon are on the Egg. Doing this on the Egg gives me a lot more space to do more paninis at the same time.

The bacon is done & is draining on paper towels.

The griddle has had some butter melted on it & the eggs get poured into egg rings to cook. They cooked for about 5 minutes until the yoke was slightly runny. The eggs were seasoned with tarragon, salt  & pepper, and then are removed from the egg rings & are flipped & cooked for 30 seconds on the second side. 

Time to make the paninis. The toasted English muffins, eggs & bacon are joined by, some cheddar cheese.

The cooked Eggs

Half of the sharp N.Y. cheddar cheese goes on the bottom half of the English muffins. I broke off the corners of the cheese slices so they didn't stick out too much.

The eggs go on next....

...followed by the bacon...

...and the other half of the sharp N.Y. cheddar cheese & Tabasco sauce.

The paninis cook on the grill griddle for 5 minutes. I used two bricks to help press the paninis, but next time I will use one because this squeezed out a lot if the cheese. I had to give the paninis a trim with some Kitchen shears to remove some of the cheese that oozed out onto the grill griddle.

Time to eat. 

The paninis were much better than a typical Egg McMuffin. I used a better grade of bacon & I loved the flavor of the sharp N.Y. cheddar cheese. The Tabasco sauce added a nice little kick to everything. I also like doing it all out on the grill with it's bigger work area. I will be making more of these real soon. Part of the reason for this test run was to establish my cooking times. I am happy to say I was able to get it right the first time and now I know exactly what to use.

Jim

MJG

Nice!

hapster

Awesome...

Seeing posts like this make me wonder why the hell I'm wasting my time with my egg... Compared to your cooks I feel like such a slacker!



Once again; great cook and post! Thanks for sharing!

jfm0830

Thanks for the comment guys! @hapster you're no slouch in the post department yourself. I enjoy your creative photography and am often jealous of some of your plating pictures. Hell I'll admit it, I am a food porn addict and I enjoy all of the pictures I see here.

Nicholas_Wetton

As a relative newbie I now have another helpful website and blog to leverage. Thank you!

jfm0830

You're most welcome! My website is a way for me to combine my interest in photography and grilling, but I also look at it as a way of paying back the people and websites that helped me along the way. Payback probably isn't quite the right word, maybe paying it forward.

trajan68

That looks obscenely good....