alexandra’s kitchen: Persimmon Panini

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Persimmon Panini

If you've never tasted a persimmon, now is the time. You'll find them in the markets from October to February, but they are most readily available and affordable in November and December. Look for the Fuyu persimmons or the Sharon fruit which have sweet tasting flesh even when they feel slightly firm and underripe. If you can only find Hachiya persimmons, wait until the flesh is very soft and ripe before eating, or it will taste extremely bitter. In fact, it most likely will be inedible.
Today for lunch I made a delicious sandwich: a persimmon panini. I was inspired by my Bon Appetit magazine's December issue which gives a recipe for a beautiful and delicious salad with Fuyu persimmons, prosciutto, pomegranate seeds, baby arugula and toasted pistachios. I made a variation of the salad not too long ago replacing the pistachios with candied pecans, omitting the pomegranate seeds and adding some nice shavings of Parmigiano Reggiano. I made a simple balsamic vinaigrette with honey, shallots and a tiny bit of garlic. The combination was delectable and it made for a nice accompaniment to an otherwise boring dinner. Now, on to the panini.

Persimmon Panini
Yield=1 Sandwich

2 slices sandwich bread
2 heaping tsp. mascarpone cheese
1 Fuyu persimmon
3/4 oz Prosciutto di Parma
1 1/2 oz sliced fresh mozzarella
a small handful of baby arugula
1/2 tsp. olive oil

Preheat a panini machine.
Spread one slice of bread with mascarpone cheese. Peel and slice persimmon into 1/4-inch thick pieces. Discard core. Top with half the slices of persimmon. (One persimmon will give you enough fruit for two sandwiches, so you can enjoy the remaining slices while you finish preparing your panini). Top with prosciutto. Top with sliced mozzarella. Top with baby arugula and remaining slice of bread.
When machine is ready, brush olive oil on both the top and bottom sides of the cooking surface. Place sandwich on griddle, close top and let press until you see the mozzarella ooze out. Enjoy!

The Eggmobile

The eggmobile houses laying hens. It follows the herd of cattle, arriving to grass they've grazed on four days earlier.The hens peck at the four-day-old cow pies, eating various insects, larvae and parasites - rich sources of protein - and accomplishing a whole lot more along the way: By eating the fly larvae and parasites, they rid the land of potential pathogens and disease; by scratching through the droppings and spreading them across the grass, they enable the manure to sink into the ground and fertilize the soil; and by eating the pesky insects, they reduce the presence of one of the cows' biggest irritants.

The Barn

Joel Salatin stands in the open-sided shelter where his cows spends a portion of the winter. During the winter, the cows eat hay (dried grass accumulated throughout the growing season), and live on a bedding consisting of woodchips, sawdust and old hay to absorb the cows' excrement. When the heavy cows tread on their nitrogen-rich manure and on the carbon-rich bedding, packing it together, they allow the mixture to ferment (anaerobic composting). By adding corn to the bedding, Salatin entices his pigs to turn the bedding into compost: When the cows return to pasture in March, the pigs dig through the densely packed bedding, searching for the tasty fermented corn, aerating the pile and turning it into compost for the spring.

Corn Pudding