Pavo Panini

Lagarto’s is one of my favorite restaurants. Their panini’s are THE best. Sadly, I hear they are closing in the near future because the rent is too high. This is surprising to me because every time I’ve been there it’s been busy. Hopefully they won't completely close and will find another location. Anyway, one of my favorite paninis there is called the Pavo. I’ve made it at home and it's pretty close.

If you don’t have a panini grill, you can just to what I do, use two heavy skillets. One skillet not heavy enough? Stack the second one with a couple cans of tuna :)

Pavo Panini

Pesto Sauce (Preferrably home-made – I made a sauce using almonds instead of pine nuts because I had them already on-hand and they’re cheaper)
Cranberry Sauce (I used canned and jellied sauce)
Oven roasted turkey breast
Brie cheese, sliced
Focaccia bread, halved

Heat the grill or skillet medium-low to medium.

Generously spread some pesto sauce on one half of the bread. Generously spread some cranberry sauce on the other half of the bread. Layer a few slices of turkey breast and the cheese between the bread slices.

Place the sandwich on the grill and press. Heat until bread is toasted and cheese is melted.

If using two skillets, place the sandwich on the heated skillet and top the sandwich with the other skillet. If the sandwich doesn’t get pressed down, weigh down the second skillet with a couple of cans (tuna works well – they have a low center of gravity :)). Flip the sandwich over to toast both sides.

Sometimes, if I can't grill my sandwich fresh, I'll just eat it un-heated, which is also yummie.

Enjoy!!!