Menu Monday - Paninis are better than Sandwiches!

First, let me apologize.  Last week was a bit crazy (including an interview for a great job!!) so I'm sorry for my lack of posts.  But I'm back today with a great new recipe the hubs and I tried out this weekend.

One of the worst times for us is weekends.  Out running errands most of the weekend, hubby and I tend to just grab something to eat at a "reasonable" restaurant and sometimes that means eating out two or three times a weekend!  This weekend we had plans for dinner Saturday night and decided to make something new and fun for lunch instead of eating out.  We got a panini maker for a shower gift and everyone knows, paninis are better than sandwiches!  We opened up our panini cookbook and found a fun new recipe we LOVED. We learned a few lessons with it, which I will explain after I show you the great recipe and photos!

Crab Melt

Ingredients:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 Tbls finely chopped fennel bulb
3 Tbls thinly sliced green onion
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
1 tsp Old Bay Seasoning (or other Chesapeake Bay-seafood seasoning)
8 oz fresh lump crabmeat (we used imitation)
2 hot dog buns
1 Tbls unsalted butter
2 oz shredded Cheddar Cheese (optional)

All of our ingredients and the great cookbook we got the recipe from!

Directions:
     In a small bowl, stir together the mayonnaise, fennel, green onion, lemon juice and zest, and Old Bay seasoning until well blended.  Gently stir in the crabmeat, takingcare not to break it up too much.
     Preheat the sandwich grill.  Open the hot dog buns flat and brush on all sides with the melted butter.  Place in the grill, close the top plate and cook until lightly toasted, 2-3 minutes.  If using the cheese, leave the buns in the grill and heap the crab salad into them, dividing it evenly, then sprinkle with cheese.  Lower the top to within 1/2 inch of the cheese and hold until melted, 30-40 seconds.  If not using the cheese, simply transfer the toasted buns to warmed plates, heap the crab salad into them, and serve at once.

The sandwiches were delicious!  We made them with some of my mom's homemade potato fries that the hubs loves so much.  A couple of things we learned.  First, we already had fennel seed seasoning so instead of spending the money on a fennel bulb (which we couldn't find at our local grocery store) we substituted the fennel seed.  We only used half the amount of seed it called for because raw seasonings are always stronger than the fresh fennel bulb, but that was still a bit much.  I would suggest only using 1/2 Tbls of fennel seed, taste the mixture and see if it needs more.  Also, we substituted fake crab meat because its cheaper and easier to find and wouldn't have to worry about picking shells out of the meat anyhow! It made it much easier to fix.  We have enough left over in crab meat and other seasonings for 1 more sandwich, which may come in handy this week since we are expecting a blizzard here in Missouri!  Another reason having leftovers is always great, you never know when you're going to be trapped in the house for days at a time!

The finished product with our potato fries with cheese!  So yummy!

So let me know how your crab melt is!  And don't forget to send me any of your favorite low cost recipes for me to try and feature on Menu Mondays!