So this meal felt totally gourmet, totally healthy, and so delicious! I love Skinnytaste.com. She has so many great ideas, and when the recipe for this panini was featured, she had me sold with the title and the picture alone. Here is the link: Asparagus Prosciutto Panini
Here is the picture:
I am a sucker for new soup recipes and a sucker for great sandwiches. I LOVE asparagus, and I LOVE ciabatta (we can buy fresh ciabatta every day here, and it is my favorite). Recently, my awesome vegetable vender (you know, the one that can get jalapeños in a place where no one has even heard of them) got in a huge batch of butternut squash (also unheard of in this city). This is the second time I have made this soup, and my family loves it.
I searched for recipes. I realize you can really fancy this one up, but this is simple and I cannot get over how good a vegetable tastes by not adding a whole lot to it. Here is the recipe I came up with after looking through several:
Simple Butternut Squash Soup
- 2 medium butternut squash
- 2 liters of chicken broth
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 diced onion
1. Cut the squash in halves, place on a cookie sheet, and bake at 350 for 1 hour (this is for high altitude). After allowing them to cool, scoop the seeds out and separate the squash meat from the peel. Set aside.
2. While squash is baking, dice the onion and saute in oil until translucent.
3. In a blender, blend squash, onion, and chicken broth in batches until you have a creamy consistency. (if you want your squash a little thicker, add less broth obviously)
4. Add the mixture to the original pot that you used for the onion and heat all the way through, stirring often.
(I have also made it a little thicker and added evaporated milk at the end to make it creamier–also delish. And I am sure heavy cream with some butter to cook the onions would make this superbly good.)
Now for the delicious sandwich part, which my husband said, “These are really good!” When I have Greg’s “really good” approval, I feel like a cooking champ. 🙂
Megan’s Grilled Chicken with Asparagus Paninis
- 2 large boneless chicken breasts (which are huge here. After cutting them into pieces I can make 10 of these sandwiches)
- olive oil and your favorite meat seasoning (We LOVE Tex-Joy)
- one bunch of asparagus (I layered three spears on each sandwich and still had some left to munch on)
- mayo
- 10 mozzarella slices
- 10 ciabatta sandwich rolls or any other fresh bread that “smooshes” well)
1. Cut chicken breasts into pieces, roll in olive oil and season. Cook on grill for about 5 minutes on both sides (the thinner the pieces the better).
2. Remove chicken to a warming platter, and grill asparagus (that has been rolled in olive oil and seasonings) for about 4-5 minutes (until crisp tender). Hold off on eating those babies before assembling the sandwiches because they are soooo good!
3. Make your garlic mayo (see Skinnytaste.com recipe) OR if you discover you are out of fresh garlic and garlic powder, just go with plain mayo.
4. Assemble the sandwiches: bread bottom, chicken, mayo, asparagus, cheese, bread top.
5. Press in your awesome panini maker (which I do not have) OR (if you are like me) grill them and place a heavy pot on top or use a large cookie sheet with heavy cans pressing down as hard as you can. When cheese has melted, flip them and press down again. Serve immediately.
Sadly, I didn’t get a picture of the final product. To be honest, I was so hungry and they looked so good, I could not wait to dig in. These were inspired by Skinnytaste.com but became my own. Absolutely heavenly. Maybe I should invest in a panini press. 😉
I wanted to add this last picture of Maggie to document that she LOVES this bowl my Granny sent her. It has a straw as part of the plastic bowl. Here she is slurping up that delicious squash…
So, does anyone have a butternut squash soup recipe that will rock our socks off? I am up to buying it every other week, we like it so much. Share in the comments, please!
Greg & Meg 