Sandwich Wednesday is a thing at Glover Gardens. The Grill-Meister produces sandwich masterpieces each week, and I share them here as fast as I can document them. Our Tuscan Chicken Panini is the latest: it is layers of savory deli-sliced chicken with mozzarella and Asiago cheeses, garlicky-spiced spinach, juicy tomato, red onion, and fresh basil, all pressed between golden, buttery sourdough with a drizzle of oil and vinegar. This new panini was inspired by a recipe in Taste of Home but we added and changed ingredients quite a bit, and translated it into pure Glover Gardens Sandwich Wednesday magic.
Recipe: Tuscan Chicken Panini
Cook Time: 15 minutes; Makes 4 Servings
Ingredients
• 5 cups (~5 oz.) fresh baby spinach (regular is ok, too)
• 2 tsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
• 1 tsp Zippy Sicilian spice mix (or your favorite Italian seasoning)
• ¼ cup butter, softened (you may
• 8 slices sourdough bread (plain or flavored; garlic-rosemary is excellent)
• 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar (or to taste), or your favorite Italian dressing
• 4 thick slices mozzarella cheese
• 4 Tbsp shredded Asiago cheese (about 1 Tbsp per sandwich)
• 1 lb shaved deli chicken
• 2 very ripe Roma tomatoes, sliced
• 4 slices red onion, separated into rings
• ¼ cup fresh basil leaves, torn
Cooking Instructions
In a medium skillet, saute 5 cups (5 oz.) spinach in 2 tsp olive oil with 1 tsp Zippy Sicilian spice mix until wilted, about 2 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Spread the bread with butter and turn the slices over. Put a slice of mozzarella on 4 of the bread slices, then follow with a fourth of the chicken, a fourth of the spinach, a layer of red onion, a quarter of the fresh basil.
drizzle of olive oil and 2 Tbsp red wine vinegar. Layer each with 1 slice mozzarella, 2 oz chicken, a portion of the spinach, 1–2 tomato slices, a few onion rings, 1 Tbsp Asiago, a scattering of torn basil, and tomato slices, then drizzle with oil and vinegar or Italian dressing. Season with salt and pepper, then top with the remaining bread, buttered side on the outside.
Cook on a griddle, in a large skillet, or in a panini maker until the bread is golden brown and cheese is melted (about 3–4 minutes per side if using a skillet). You can use cast-iron presses if you like. Serve hot.
Notes
- Sometimes, inspiration strikes in the simplest way. We stumbled across this recipe idea and loved the notion of a chicken-and-spinach panini, especially with our Zippy Sicilian spice mix bringing the greens to life. The biggest surprise, though, was the deli-sliced chicken. We don’t usually buy it, but we were delighted with how well it worked here — both in the idea and in the execution. You should definitely get it sliced as thinly as possible, shaved, even, from the deli. The pre-packaged thicker slices won’t be as delightful.
- There are minimal condiments on this sandwich, intentionally. The spinach has a condiment feel, with its soft, savory and garlicky warmth. The original recipe in Taste of Home called for creamy Italian dressing, but we tried that and nixed it immediately. Regular Italian dressing or just olive oil and red wine vinegar are just right.
- For the bread, you can use any high-quality regular sourdough or get creative with a flavored version. We went with garlic-rosemary sourdough from Pablo & Missy’s bakery stand at the Hancock County Farmer’s Market in Bay St. Louis, near our little bay cabin called Gumbo Cove (see the Gumbo Cove archives here in the blog). There’s more about Pablo & Missy and their wonderful bread at the end of the post.
- Once you’ve got a solid bread foundation, add savory sauteed spinach, melty mozzarella, a sprinkle of Asiago, juicy tomato, crisp onion, and torn basil, and suddenly you’ve got a Tuscan vibe pressed between slices of golden bread. The Grill-Meister cooked ours on the griddle with cast-iron presses, but you can treat it just like a grilled cheese on the stovetop or in a panini maker. However you do it, this panini delivers big Italian flavor with minimal effort.
- We served this delicious panini with a simple store-bought Italian-themed chopped salad, unapologetically. It didn’t really need a side dish, but we had echoes of our mothers’ collective “eat your vegetables” in our hearts, so we complied. Wine-wise, we had a crisp sauvignon blanc, which was perfect,.
Join Us in the Kitchen
My ‘sister’ Noemi joins us on most Sandwich Wednesdays making for a wonderful mid-week tiny party. This time, our sourdough loaf was on the small side, not really sandwich-bread sized, so the three of us made two small sandwiches each: one for dinner and one for lunch the next day. Sweet Baby Leftovers, that sandwich was good the next day! Noemi forgot hers when she left, so we happily devoured it as a snack during Happy Cocktail at the Tree House. (It’s a dog-eat-dog world with high-quality leftovers, truly a ‘you snooze, you lose’ situation.)
The Grill-Meister has an Assemble Your Own Policy with most paninis, thinking that each of us adding our own ingredients optimizes our sandwich for our unique tastes. He preps everything, then calls for the diners to converge around the kitchen island and begin the assembling process. He takes over again and delivers the finished product, a warm, crisp bundle of customized Sandwich Wednesday love. The pics are my two perfect ‘lil Tuscan Chicken Paninis as they are being built.
Local Vendor Spotlight: Pablo and Missy’s Bakery
Whenever we’re at Gumbo Cove, we make a beeline for the Hancock County Farmer’s Market to stock up on Pablo and Missy’s breads. Their garlic rosemary sourdough was perfect for this Tuscan Chicken Panini, but honestly, we’ve never had a loaf we didn’t love. We usually buy several at a time — some to eat right away and some to freeze, so we can enjoy them later back at Glover Gardens. Buying directly from hardworking local producers like Pablo and Missy feels right: the money goes straight into the community, and we get to pair our homemade food with purchased goods that are made with the same loving care. That’s the perfect definition of win-win!
That beautiful Grilled Shrimp BLT above is on Pablo and MIssy’s Spinach and Asiago Cheese Sourdough. It rocked! We highly recommend that you commence to your local farmer’s market immediately for some similar homemade artisan bread that can be the foundation for Sandwich Wednesday wonderfulness.
Let us know if you make this sandwich, and if you have any variations or improvements we need to know about!
© 2025, Glover Gardens
Wow. You are reinventing the art of sandwich. Compliments.
OMG!! Thank you so much! Honestly, it’s as much about the weekly fellowship as the sandwich. And we are so honored that some of our friends, relatives, and followers have picked up this habit and the recipes.