I was laying in bed one night, unable to sleep, thinking about things to grill when it hit me. I have never grilled a panini on the charcoal grill before. My grocery store sells some incredible ciabatta rolls so I picked one up, grilled some chicken and went for it.
Ingredients
- ciabatta bread
- 4 split chicken breasts (with skin and bone)
- buttermilk ranch dressing
- Colby-Jack cheese
- tomato
- roasted red pepper
Directions
- I prepared a medium high heat and tossed the chicken right over the direct heat. After significantly browning both sides of the chicken I butterflied them and then laid them on the grill split side down to get them cooked all the way through.
- When the internal temperature was over 165 degrees Fahrenheit I took the chicken off, let it rest for a few minutes, and then diced it up.
- Once the chicken breast was diced, the fries were cooked (done on the grill), and the red pepper was roasted (also done on the grill), I diced up the roasted red pepper, sliced the ciabatta bread and brought all the ingredients back to the grill for panini assembly.
- I brushed both sides of the ciabatta bread with olive oil and tossed them over medium/medium low heat (this was the leftover heat from the chicken and fries). I added a few extra coals just to keep things going a bit longer. I assembled the panini over direct heat starting with chicken, cheese, bacon, red pepper or tomato, ranch dressing and then the top of the bread.
- Once the panini is assembled you can use a spatula to press it down a bit or a panini press. Luckily I happened to have a panini press laying around so I used it.
- I took the paninis inside and cut them with a sharp knife. Really nice. The ciabatta bread was so crispy with a great flavor. The ranch, as usual, complimented the chicken and bacon really well and on mine I had just tomato which tasted great. My wife had roasted red pepper which she said really had a nice grilled flavor to add to the panini. We will be doing this again for sure!!!
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