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Panini means "sandwich"
in Italian and "delicious" in any language. This luscious sandwich is a
large, round crusty loaf-either focaccia or ciabatta-layered with grilled
eggplant, tuna, fresh mozzarella, roasted red peppers, tomato, black olives,
and basil leaves. Homemade roasted red peppers taste best in this sandwich,
but you can substitute best-quality bottled if you like. As a variation,
replace the eggplant with several quartered marinated artichoke hearts.
Sandwiches don't get much better than this.
1 unpeeled medium eggplant, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices
Fruity olive oil for brushing and drizzling
1 Tuscan flat round loaf, such as focaccia or ciabatta, about 12 inches in
diameter, halved lengthwise
Several lettuce leaves
1 can (about 6 ounces) solid light tuna packed in olive oil, well drained
and broken into large chunks
Halved lemon for squeezing over filling
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 ounces fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced, or crumbled feta or goat cheese
1 cup thickly julienned roasted red pepper, bottled or homemade (see note)
2 big, fat garlic cloves, minced or put through a garlic press
1 large ripe tomato, thinly sliced
A handful of pitted Kalamata olives
8 large fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped
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Preheat
the grill or broiler. Brush both sides of the
eggplant slices with olive oil. Grill or broil the
eggplant
slices for 4 minutes on each side, or just until
cooked through.
If the bread is quite thick, pull out some of the
inside of the bread but not all of it, leaving a
1/2-inch shell. Drizzle
the inside of the bread halves with olive oil.
Arrange the lettuce leaves on the bottom half. Top
with the tuna, a
generous squeeze of lemon juice, a drizzle of olive
oil, and a little salt and pepper. Layer the
remaining ingredients
on top of the tuna, drizzling a little olive oil and
lemon juice over each layer and sprinkling each
layer with salt and
pepper. Top with the remaining bread half. Gently
press down on the sandwich to compress the
ingredients, and cut
it into eight wedges.
NOTE:
To roast red peppers, place each pepper over a gas
burner or under a preheated broiler, and
cook, turning frequently with tongs, until slightly
softened and charred in several places. Transfer to
a plate, cover with an inverted bowl and, when cool
enough to handle, peel and seed the peppers.
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