CoffeeDrinkersHeaven.com

Delicious!

Customer Rating:
Simple Italian Sandwiches is much more than a sandwich book - it's about eating simply, eating well and enjoying each and every bite. I can't say enough good things about this cookbook -- it has taught me to look at food in new ways that lead to delicious and nutritious meals.

Best Panini's Ever

Customer Rating:
These recipes are delicious. Using the tips on breads and fillings in this book took my paninis to a whole new level. I highly recommmend this book to anyone who is imterested in making seriously good paninis.

A place to start

Customer Rating:
Good ideas for sandwiches but I always tweak the recipes in some way or other.

You don't need this book to make a panini

Customer Rating:
I do believe that at some point everyone will own their own restaurant, have a Food Network TV show and /or their own cookbook. This book is evidence of this.

The authors are friends and partner's of Mario Batali. They are not Italian. They have been to Italy and had a panini. They opened up a cute little panini bar in NYC and charge way too much money I am sure for a simple sandwich. I think it is sweet how they try to pretend to be regular people with their no kitchen little panini place even though they are part of the Batali business empire. Strangely - even though the recipes are so simple a monkey could crank out panini's they needed a co-author. I don't know for what since almost all the recipes read like this:

Mozzarella, Tomato and Basil Panini

Put sliced tomato on ciabbatta roll with mozzarella and a few leaves of basil. Grill in panini press. Slice in half and serve.

It is a small book with only a few photos of food but a bunch of those arty photos of a restaurant chalkboard, a few people in the sandwich shop, a drizzle of oil, a close-up of a dining check. I mean - please. How about some photos of sandwiches? Duh?

Panini's are really in right now and there are many books coming out this year on them. My recommendation is try to catch Wolfgang Puck on HSN when he is hawking his panini grill - he will show you more panini's then you will ever need to know in about fifteen minutes.

Delicious Panini and Tramezzini

Customer Rating:
I just returned from Roma. One of the things we ate the most for lunch was Tramezzini, due to the heavy availability of them everywhere. They almost always offer to grill it for you. We also noticed that nearly every one we saw had sliced boiled eggs on it. I had one that was a simple chicken salad with green olives, sliced hard boiled eggs, slice of cheese, and rocket (arugula). The sandwich was fantastic. My girlfriend had one that was just bologna and artichokes and it was out of this world. We don't even like bologna but for some reason in Italy, it's edible. I haven't actually made a recipe from this book yet, for it is a gift for my girlfriend and she will be receiving it tonight. I did however read through it and was very happy to see the way it was written. From the basic ingredients list and the several trips I've taken to Italy in my life, I know that this is one great book. If I can remember that I wrote this, I'll update it in a month or so.