Lee Cooks, Margy Eats: Chicken Paninis and Pimento Pickles

Our Saturday ritual is to get up early and hit the grocery store before everyone else is out and about. Then we’ll come home, have lunch or breakfast (whichever is more time appropriate) and take on the day.

Today we got a much later start than usual and ended up at the store during BUSY time! Not the best way to start the day.

Luckily, we were able to keep motivated by remembering what would be waiting for us when we got home. We picked up a rotisserie chicken and Lee made it into a delicious Panini.

We have a Panini maker (thanks wedding shower!) But ifyou don’t, there’s a couple of tricks you can use. My favorite is to cover a red brick in aluminum foil. Then you heat up a grill pan or cast iron pan. Put your sandwich in the pan and the brick on top. Flip about half way through. I do love my Panini maker though!

This sandwich came out great! It was hard to believe there was no mayo mustard on it. The cheese melted on one side and the tomato melted into the bread and chicken on the other.

The side dish was a pimento pickle. That sure was a surprise. It reminded me of a hamburger, which is weird. The flavors surprisingly do go together. The melty cheese mellows the pickle’s bite just enough so that they meld into one another. I know it sounds bizarre, but it’s definitely worth experimenting with!