Joanna Gaines Shares ‘Unconventional’ Trick for ‘World’s Most Perfect Panini’
Joanna Gaines has a few kitchen hacks hiding up her sleeve and revealed one unconventional trick for making what she called the “world’s most perfect panini.” The Magnolia Table star shared her easy cooking tip and asked her fans to share their creative methods.
Joanna Gaines shared a surprising trick for making a perfect panini
Gaines shared her recipe for brick paninis on an episode of her Magnolia Table cooking show and made two varieties of the sandwich. The recipe is called “brick paninis” because she uses heavy bricks to flatten them.
In a May 1 Magnolia Network Instagram post, Gaines showed off her easy kitchen trick. “Sometimes it’s the unconventional methods that are the most fun,” the caption explained. “Watch @joannagaines make her brick paninis on #MagnoliaTable today at 1/12c on #MagnoliaNetwork.”
In the clip, Gaines placed three bricks on a sheet pan and placed it on paninis that were cooking on the grill. “Maybe season 3 we can afford a panini maker, but this season we’re stuck with bricks,” she joked.
“This is kind of a way to make sure that it is the world’s most perfect panini,” Gaines noted. “I’m going to go ahead and press this down. And there you have it — a brick panini.”
How to make Joanna Gaines’ brick paninis recipe
During the episode, Gaines made two types of paninis.
For the first kind, Gaines spread pesto on ciabatta bread. “The idea is literally just to press the sandwich down and I just thought bricks seemed kind of fun,” she said. “If you don’t have bricks, you can use cast iron pans, you can use cans.”
She added two to three slices of turkey to the bottom halves of the bread and topped the turkey with jarred red peppers. Gaines added provolone, calling it “super melty and cheesy.”
For the second panini option, Gaines used sourdough bread, which she topped with pimento cheese and bacon.
The Magnolia Table host noted, “I’ve got the griddle nice and hot,” then buttered the bread well and placed the sandwiches butter-side down on the griddle. “And this is where the bricks come in,” she said.
Gaines said, “I’d like to see what you come up with in your kitchen, those of you that are judging me right now for my red farm bricks.”
The full recipe is available on the Magnolia website.
Joanna Gaines’ fans had plenty to say about her clever idea
Gaines’ clever panini press idea got plenty of attention from her fans who weighed in on Instagram, with comments including, “I love this trick” and “So creative!”
Many of her followers had their own creative ideas for making paninis. “Put the Dutch oven on it,” one person recommended. “I use a cast iron skillet!!” another fan shared.
Other people said they use a brick set in a cast iron pan or put canned tomatoes in a catering bin.
One person shared, “Funny! This made me laugh because I literally grab your cookbook to sit on top of my panini maker to toast it faster.”
Gaines even saved one person from buying special equipment. “Just watched this episode and I was thinking about buying a panini maker but now I’ll just use my cast iron pans,” they wrote. “Great idea.”
