Brie, Prosciutto, and Fig Jam Panini

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned that I'm training to run a half marathon. The race is now a week from tomorrow, and I'm completely freaking out, but that's not the point. A few weeks ago, Jen Clementine and I went up north to do a long run in cooler temperatures. We were ready to rock out 12 miles, and I figured the change in altitude (I think it's around 5,000 feet) would be balanced out by the cooler temperatures. I was wrong. The altitude kicked our asses, and it really wasn't that much cooler than when we do our early morning runs here. Lame. We left feeling pretty defeated. We had planned on eating lunch up there before heading back, but when we gave up it wasn't really lunch time. We figured we'd eat somewhere in Phoenix before heading home. Clementine suggested Postino Winecafe which was fine with me because I'd wanted to try it for a long time.

We got there and were overwhelmed with tasty options. First overwhelming thing: all wines are $5 a glass from 11 to 5 every day. Once we got our wine choices figured out, we had to tackle the menu. Bruschetta...panini...salads...desserts...oh my. We ended up sharing one of the bruschetta boards and splitting a sandwich. I loved Postino so much that I decided the husband and I needed to eat there the following weekend when we were doing a staycation at a local resort. He and I shared the same combination of food but with different bruschetta flavors (I guess toppings would be a better choice of word) and a different sandwich. The sandwich we went with was the Prosciutto with Brie--Prosciutto with triple cream brie, fig jam and arugula
with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Holy moly. The husband is a huge fan of figs, so it was an easy sell. I knew after eating it I needed to recreate it. Clementine had recreated it before, so I read what she had done and kind of went from there. I don't have exact measurements of what I used, so you'll have to wing it a bit if you decide to make this.

Brie, Prosciutto, and Fig Jam Panini
Source: adapted from Postino Winecafe

2 cups arugula
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Juice from one half a lemon
1 loaf ciabatta bread
Fig jam/preserves
Prosciutto
Brie

In a medium bowl, toss arugula with drizzles of olive oil and balsamic vinegar and juice from half a lemon. Set aside.

Split ciabatta loaf into two halves then slice each half horizontally (or use ciabatta rolls). Spread fig jam on inside halves of the bread. Top with prosciutto, arugula, and brie. Place top half of bread onto sandwich. Grill on a panini press until cheese is melted.

*****

I think I had a three ounce package of prosciutto and used the whole thing between the two sandwiches. This was super tasty. The salty prosciutto, the sweet figs, the creamy brie...oh my goodness! It's pretty rare that we have fig jam, and it's not cheap when we do have it, so I doubt this is something we'll have very often (unless we go to Postino), but oh man, was it ever tasty!!