You don't need a panini press to make panini at home. Just put a couple of heavy pans or a foil-wrapped brick on top of your sandwiches and you'll achieve the same results without wasting cupboard space on another small, single-use appliance.
Ingredients
Asparagus, tough ends snapped off (about 6 spears per sandwich)
Sturdy Italian Bread, cut in ½ inch slices
Fontina Cheese, grated (1/4-1/2 c. per sandwich)
Speck Ham or Prosciutto, thinly sliced (2 slices per sandwich)
Dijon Mustard
Olive Oil
Butter
Instructions
Heat a little olive oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat and sauté the asparagus until it is crisp-tender. The time will vary greatly, based on the thickness of your asparagus. Mine was on the thicker side and took about 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and remove from pan.
Assemble the panini. Spread a piece of bread with Dijon mustard. Place whole asparagus spears over the mustard. Sprinkle with grated Fontina cheese and top with 2 slices of Speck. Sprinkle with just a little more cheese (to anchor the bread) and place another slice of bread on top.
Heat a small pat of butter and a drizzle of olive oil over medium heat in the skillet you used for the asparagus. Place the sandwiches in the pan and place something heavy on top of them. Press until the bottom of the bread is golden and the cheese is beginning to melt, about 5 minutes. Carefully flip and press on the other side until golden, about another 5 minutes. Or if you have a panini press, by all means, put it to use.
Cut the panini in halves and dig in.
Recipe by strawberryplum at http://www.strawberryplum.com/asparagus-fontina-speck-ham-panini/