Not Pictured Here: Roast Beef and Balsamic Onion Panini

I didn't take a picture of this one because I burned the top and bottom and it came out pretty mangled. Once I scraped off the charred outer crust, though, this panini was amazing. The recipe comes from a Williams-Sonoma catalogue, and, no, I didn't buy the $430 worth of fancy specialized cooking gadgets and pre-made ingredients the recipe required, but it still turned out great.

First, here's a recipe I found online for the 'wichcraft balsamic onion marmalade, which I could have bought for $14. I made a quarter recipe for the panini, which made just over 5 T. :

Balsamic Onion Marmalade:

- makes 2 to 3 cups -

Adapted from 'wichcraft by Tom Colicchio with Sisha Ortuzar

Ingredients

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
4 medium onions, thinly sliced (about 8 cups)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup balsamic vinegar

Procedure

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat until it slides easily across the pan. Add the onions, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes, until the onions are soft. Add the sugar and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes, until the onions appear dry. Add the vinegar and reduce the heat to low. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, for about 1 hour, until the onions are soft and dry. Serve warm or at room temperature. Store the marmalade in the refrigerator. It will keep for several weeks.

As for the panini itself:

Ingredients:

1 piece ciabatta bread, about 9" long, halved horizontally
5 T. 'wichcraft balsamic onion marmalade
4 tsp. Dijon mustard
8 oz. thinly sliced roast beef
2 oz. white cheddar cheese, grated
4 oz. mild blue cheese, crumbled (I don't think our blue cheese was mild. It was pretty strong, and I would have halved the amount.)

Directions:

Preheat electric panini press (or, if you're me, frying pan for the bottom and oven on broil for the top) to medium-high heat. Brush outside of bread halves with oil. Lay bread, oiled side down, on work surface. Spread onion marmalade on bottom half of bread; spread mustard on top half. Arrange roast beef on bottom half; top with cheeses. Cover with top half of bread. Place sandwich on panini press; close lid. Cook 7-9 minutes (or fry/broil until browned, watching carefully so your fire alarm doesn't go off). Transfer to cutting board; cut into 4 pieces. Serves 4. (Served 2.5 for us)