PANINI

We asked cookbook author Signe Meirāne to create something special from smoked Provolone and the first thing that came to her mind was PANINI. With Italian ingredients, with olives, with capers and sun-dried tomatoes, with natural sourdough ciabatta bread or sourdough bread, and of course with the great smoked Provolone (with a noticeably soft smokiness), which actually is the excellent Provolone from Smiltenes Piens. PROVOLONE is a cheese that can be enjoyed on its own or melted - in stews, lasagne, biscuits, paninis and wherever melted cheese is needed.
Ingredients
  • 8 slices of sun-dried tomatoes in oil
  • 12 green olives, pitted
  • 1 tbsp capers
  • a small handful of basil
  • 4 slices of natural sourdough bread
  • 6 large slices of Smiltenes Piens Provolone, smoked
  • 2 handfuls of small spinach leaves
  • freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Preparation

Chop the olives, tomatoes, capers and basil as finely as you like (a medium-coarse texture is very good). Place on 2 slices of bread. Place the spinach, cheese and bread slices on top. If you like, put some prosciutto in the middle. Put the panini in a frying pan or any other pan, put a weight (you can put a pestle or something else heavy on the cake pan base). Bake over a medium flame to warm slowly and form a crisp crust. If the flame is high, the outside will burn but the cheese inside will not melt. Bake slowly until you see the cheese melting. Fry on both sides. This will take about 15 minutes. Remove and serve.

Preparation process
End result