Caribbean panini with smoked chicken & salsa rosada

You make this Caribbean panini with smoked chicken, bell pepper, pineapple and your homemade salsa rosada.

The salsa rosada is such a recipe… we've been thinking about that for a long time. In its simplest form it is not much more than a mixture of ketchup and mayonnaise and to call that a recipe might be going a bit far. Yet this sauce is widely used in the Antilles (and actually throughout South America) on sandwiches and as a dipping sauce.

In most versions of salsa rosada, in addition to mayonnaise and ketchup, pepper, lime and Tabasco are also included, which in terms of recipe goes a long way.

We therefore chose to include it in our Caribbean panini recipe. It is the perfect counterpart for the smoked chicken and the sweet pineapple!

Panini or panino?

By the way, never make the mistake of calling one such sandwich a 'panini'. When I do that at home, Linda always blows my mind. “No” she says… “Panini is plural. One sandwich is a panino. Just as one strand of spaghetti is a spaghetti and a single bite before a meal is an antipasto.” Just so you know.

The grill of Maxima Kitchen Equipment

You can make these panini in a sandwich maker, but they taste best when grilled. This can be done on a grid, in a grill pan or (and that's even easier!) on a contact grill.

We use this contact grill from Maxima Kitchen Equipment for making the panini. The great thing about this device is that the grill plates adapt to what lies in between. So they are always in the right position and all dishes are cooked evenly. So whether you're grilling a thin piece of meat, or a monster of a sandwich – it fits between the plates of this fine contact grill.

With Maxima Kitchen Equipment they make solid catering equipment, the smallest model of which is usually also suitable for use at home. This is also the smallest contact grill in their range. They also come with two or even three of these plates!

We got the device from the Maxima team and we've been using it for several months now. It is used with us for everything and more! Not just for panini, but especially for meat, grilled vegetables and even (firm) fish.

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This recipe is for 4 panini

Ingredients:

For the panini

• 1 unsliced, luxury bread (We used the Campagnard from the love & passion series by AH)
• 1 jar of roasted bell pepper
• a fresh pineapple (possibly canned pineapple slices)
• 1 smoked chicken fillet
• slices of matured cheese
• 1 head of Romaine lettuce

For the salsa rosada

• 3 tbsp mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp ketchup
• the juice of 1/2 lime
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• Tabasco to taste (but at least a tsp)

Preparation of the Caribbean panini

Start making for the salsa rosada. To do this, squeeze half a lime and mix it with the rest of the ingredients. Stir well and the sauce is ready.

Now cut thick slices of the bread, about one and a half times as thick as a 'normal' sandwich. You need a total of 8 slices. Thinly slice the smoked chicken breast and the roasted bell pepper.

Finally, also thinly slice the pineapple. Do you use canned pineapple slices? Then cut them in half once, so that the slices become 2x as thin.

Then wash the lettuce and remove some leaves. Then also cut the cheese into slices.

Preheat the grill to 225 degrees.

Top the panini by smearing some of the salsa rosada first on both slices of bread. Then top them with some of the chicken, pineapple, lettuce, cheese, bell pepper.

Now put the second slice of bread on top and then place the panini under the grill. You can press the grill firmly for this recipe, so that the panini eventually has half its original thickness.

Grill the Caribbean panini until the cheese has melted and the bread is nice and crispy. Enjoy your meal!