Bacon, Avocado and Mozzarella Panino
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Tax returns, student loan repayments, immigration documentation, airline voucher credit redemptions; sometimes you spend the entire day sorting out pieces of random paperwork, then get to the end and think: ah crap, I still need to cook something to eat. This moment is usually swiftly followed by the realisation that by spending all that time doing important things, you haven't actually had time to shop for food; you look in the fridge, and try to determine what the best thing you can make from the ingredients you have is. In my case, today, that was a bacon, avocado and mozzarella panino.
I've mentioned before how everyone loves bacon, so including it here certainly isn't a bad thing. That meaty, salty and smokey flavour that it brings just gives the sandwich some heartiness. Avocado is something I'm personally quite fond of; I just adore that firm, almost slimy texture and the sweet flavour it brings. The combination here is curious, as the flavour of the avocado almost makes it feel like you're eating something healthy; it's not healthy, it's got bacon in it. Mozzarella is pretty mild and doesn't impart too much flavour other than a slight milkiness that plays off the avocado, but it melts extremely well and works as a great binding agent here to hold everything together.
In the end it might have been a little bit unplanned, but sometimes that's a good thing. As low-effort, unscheduled creations go, I rather enjoyed this.
Bacon, Avocado and Mozzarella Panino
Serves: 2 People
Smoked bacon, ripe avocado and a double layer of mozzarella on sourdough.
Ingredients
- 4 Slices Sourdough
- 100g Mozzarella
- 1 Avocado
- 4 Strips Bacon
- Generic Cooking Oil
Instructions
- Finely grate the mozzarella and set to one side.
- Slice the avocado into about 12 pieces.
- Bring a skillet up to a medium temperature, and add a touch of the cooking oil; add the bacon to this pan.
- Once the bacon is cooked to your personal liking (crispy, etc.), remove from the skillet.
- Place half of the avocado slices onto each of two bread slices.
- Using about half of the mozzarella, coat both layers of avocado (ie: a quarter of the mozzarella on each).
- Add two strips of bacon to each sandwich, on top of the mozzarella.
- Use the remaining mozzarella to add a second layer on top of the bacon.
- Add the remaining two slices of sourdough on top, then place in a panini grill until the mozzarella has melted and the bread is nicely toasted.
Notes & Tips
Slicing avocados can be a bit of a pain if you don't know what you're doing. With the avocado upright, cut down from the top until you hit the stone, then slide the knife around the avocado in a circle (such that the blade keeps contact with the stone) until the avocado breaks in half. From here you can easily remove the stone from whichever half it sits in, then cut each half into about 6 wedges; the peel will remove easily by hand at this point.
