Pastrama-nini! Jewish Soul Food with an Italian Twist.

Thanks to a pastrami-loving Romanian neighbor, we found a great deli! I stopped in to pick up some pastrami and ended up with 2 full bags of deliciousness: pastrami, corned beef, potato knishes, whitefish salad, sable, muenster cheese, rye bread and bagels. I could have kept ordering, but it was a zoo at the deli counter, and I wasn't quite up to competing with the throngs of other hungry people. That was the nice way of saying it- actually I think I would have been humiliated, ridiculed and possibly trampled if I had added anything else to my order. I was not only happy to escape with my bags full of food, but also happy that I made it to the car fully intact with no bloodshed or broken bones. It was a close call. Next time, I'll just call ahead.

We decided we wanted a grilled sandwich and then came the brainstorm of making a hot pastrami and corned beef on the panini press.

First we put some of each meat in pan and heated it on low until it was warmed through.

Next, we piled the warmed meat onto a slice of rye.

Covered with two nice slices of muenster cheese!

Spread on a little pad of softened butter on each side, and placed it on the hot panini press.
Three or four minutes later, it was toasted to perfection. The rye bread was crisped and the filling was warm and melt-in-your-mouth wonderful. I could eat this every day, but I think it's better to save for special occassions. My father and Kitty-Mom are going to be visiting next week, and since I know how much they'll love the food (they have tongue, dad!), we'll make this one of our stops. Don't worry, we should be okay as long as we call in our order ahead...and the eggs.