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Monday, February 21, 2011

Thai Chicken Peanut Panini

Recently, I stumbled upon an announcement on Bran Appetit and Baking and Boys!, two food blogs I read, which invited bloggers to participate in The Great Peanut Butter Exhibition. Curious, I did a little reading and discovered they were looking for contest entries that 1. Included peanut butter, 2. Included WARM peanut butter, and 3. Was preferably spicy. I love using peanut butter in non-dessert dishes, as you can see in Indonesian Chicken with Peanut Sauce and Thai Salad with Peanut Dressing. With these two recipes in mind, I set out to make a new dish featuring warm and spicy peanut butter.

While I would be thrilled to win The Great Peanut Butter Exhibition (because who wouldn't want 6 awesome flavors of peanut butter? I have my eye on the dark chocolate one!), Ryan told me I've already won in his eyes. To say the recipe was a success would be an understatement. Before we'd even finished the meal, Ryan was already asking if he could take the leftovers to work the next day. I wasn't about to say no, not with all of his enthusiasm, but I did steal a few extra tastes of the peanut spread before he used it on his sandwich.

This sandwich took pretty basic ingredients and made them into a rather fabulous sandwich in mere minutes. If you don't have a panini press, I think you could also cook your sandwich in a skillet, pressing down on it with a spatula to get the same effect. The sauce and toppings would also taste great on a pizza, and I definitely plan to try that next.

Thank you, Peanut Butter Boy, for hosting such a contest and getting my creative wheels spinning. We've found a new household favorite!

Update: This recipe took THIRD in the contest! Thank you to the judges for selecting my recipe! To see the first and second place winners, as well as all other great peanut butter entries, click here



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Thai Chicken Peanut Panini
*most ingredients listed without quantities, adjust depending on the number of sandwiches making (the peanut spread is enough for 3-4 sandwiches)

Ingredients:
for the peanut spread-
-1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
-1 tbsp soy sauce
-1/2 tbsp sesame oil
-1 tbsp Sriracha (thai hot sauce)--add more or less depending on what level of spicy you want!

for the sandwiches-
-bread (we used a whole wheat baguette, sliced)
-sliced red pepper
-shredded carrot
-chopped cilantro
-sliced green onions
-cooked & shredded chicken
-coarsely chopped peanuts

Directions:
1. To make the peanut spread, heat peanut butter in a microwave safe oven for 20 seconds, until slightly melted. Stir in soy sauce, sesame oil, and Sriracha, mixing until smooth.
2. To assemble the sandwiches, spread peanut sauce on bread and top with chicken, red pepper, carrots, cilantro, green onions, and peanuts. Top with second slice of bread and press in a panini press (or on a hot skillet with a spatula), until sandwich is warmed through (2-3 minutes).
3. Remove sandwich from panini press or skillet and repeat with remaining ingredients until desired number of sandwiches made. Serve immediately.