Italian Panini
By: Sheri Wetherell
Published: February 23, 2009

Photo: pink_fish13
I return home from work (hungry), check the mailbox and find my newest issue of Gourmet magazine. There on the cover is a delicious grilled sandwich bulging with juicy ham, its bread toasted to crisp perfection. When I flip through the pages (which, by the way, reading a food mag is never a good idea to do when you are hungry) I am reminded of the sandwiches we used to get in Siena, Italy. After school my girlfriends and I would head to Bar Centrali for panini and cokes (okay, sometimes wine). When I first arrived in Italy I could barely speak a lick of Italian, but I quickly mastered the art of ordering my "panino."
"Prosciutto crudo, fontini é fungi con salsa rosa é salsa verde, per favore!"
Raw cured ham, fontina cheese, mushrooms with red and green sauce grilled to perfection on a big fancy panini grill. I'm still not really sure what the red and green sauces were (tomato- and pesto-esque), but they were divine in their mystery. Best of all, I felt oh so Italian when I placed the order! I ate that same sandwich almost daily for six months straight. Whether I ate the same version because I was so in love with it (completely) or just scared to learn a new string of ingredients (probably) I'll never quite know (or admit).
Oh, so young, so naive! If I were there again I'd be ordering a different panino each day. Choosing from amongst the cured meats and cheeses that hung over the bar.
I've never been able to reproduce that same panino, and I don't think I actually want to, as the memory of that one great panino would somehow be sullied. I will always miss that sandwich, though not nearly as much as I miss the time spent with my wonderful girlfriends. Nothing comes close to either.

Comments:
Nina
February 24, 2009

It is true you really can't recreate that Panino and I've tried  many times (minus the fungi).  But I totally agree I'm not sure I would want to and risk disrupting those memories of Bar Centrali, wonderful girlfriends, Baiyles on the rocks and cute Italian Boys.  Oh to be 20 again!
Stefano

Gostei muito do blog.
Excelente!!!