Jersey Girl Panini

For my first blog post, I wanted to make something to congratulate Cooperstown Cheese Company with their cheese Jersey Girl placing 3^rd in American Originals at the American Cheese Society Convention. What better way than making a grilled cheese/panini? Of the cheese they make, Jersey Girl is one of my all time favorites.  Jersey Girl is a raw milk Colby that is made from the milk of Jersey cows (hence the name Jersey Girl).  On top of its recent award, it was also one of the two cheeses from Cooperstown Cheese Company that were on the 2013 Inauguration menu (the other being Toma Celena).

For this sandwich, my ingredient list is:

• Jersey Girl (Cooperstown Cheese Company), thinly sliced
• Loaf of Ciabatta (Balthazar Bakery)
• 1 Roasted Red Pepper
• Cremini mushrooms
• Garlic (I used about 4 cloves and minced them)
• Lemon Juice
• Oregano
• Black Pepper

 

First, roast the red pepper. It's perfectly fine to buy a jar of roasted red peppers, but I find it isn't too hard to roast the pepper myself, and it's quite a bit cheaper. Get rid of the stem and seeds, and put it in the broiler while keeping an eye on it.

When one side starts to blacken, use tongs to rotate it until all of the sides seem cooked enough. For this meal, I pealed off the skin when I was done roasting it. After roasting, cut the pepper into strips.

Next, saute the mushrooms. I tend to like creminis a lot and I thought they would be a good pick for this meal. Keep the pan at medium heat with olive oil when sauteeing the mushrooms until they seem partly cooked.

Add minced garlic (I used four cloves because I always like a lot of garlic, and for this it seemed to be a good amount) to cook with the mushrooms, and add black pepper and oregano. When the mushrooms seem more fully cooked, sprinkle lemon juice over the top (not too much). When the mushrooms are cooked enough, take them off of the heat and use a slotted spoon to transfer them (and garlic) into a bowl and drain the liquid.

Now that the pepper and mushrooms are cooked, it is time to assemble the sandwich. Slice the ciabatta loaf lengthwise, grill the whole loaf, then slice it after it's done. Generally, my first layer is sliced Jersey Girl, and on top of that I like to put down a layer of the roasted red peppers, followed by the mushrooms and garlic.

One of the saddest things that can happen to a family of cheese-makers is for the panini press to stop working...which it did about two months ago. If you're like me and don't own a working panini press, this step is where we're going to get a little bit creative.  Because of the volume of the ciabatta bread, I generally like to press it, and make sure that the cheese on the inside is getting melted.  What I end up using is another pot and to press down my sandwich (which stirs up quite a few chuckles from my parents watching me from the other side of the kitchen).

When the cheese is melted and both sides of the bread are toasted, it's done!  After taking the whole thing out of the pan, cut it into six slices to serve (as you can see from the first image of this post).

So there we have it, my first addition to this blog!  Cooperstown Cheese Company's Jersey Girl melted wonderfully for this panini, and I highly recommend it for any variety of panini or grilled cheese sandwiches you may wish to make.