Melted Gouda Panini with Roasted Beets and Pesto

All of the ooey gooey melted cheese goodness of the classic grilled cheese sandwich with a healthy grown-up twist!

The combination of gouda cheese with fresh roasted beets, fresh spinach and a slathering of pesto on crusty artisan bread may just become your new go-to comfort food.

Preparing Roasted Beets is SO easy. You want to select beets that are firm and feel heavy for their size, these are the freshest!Just clean the beets really good, remove any dirt and the greens if they are still attached.  Place the clean beets on a sheet of tin foil and drizzle with olive oil to fully coat the beets.

Fold the foil over the beets and crimp the edges, and to make a little pouch. Place in a preheated 375F oven. ( beets are adaptable and you can put them in the oven anywhere between 325F- 425F so if you are cooking something else at the same time , you will just need to adjust the cooking time accordingly).

Cook until the beets are tender. Depending on the size of the beets, this could be 25min. for smaller beets or up to an hour for larger beets. Tender beets will be easy to piece with a fork. Once they are cooked, let them sit until they are cool enough to handle.

Remove the skin. This is really easy to do, with either a fork, the back of a spoon, a pairing knife or your fingers...your choice.

Make extras! they are so delicious you'll want to add them to salads etc.throughout the week!

Melted Gouda Panini with Roasted Beets and Pesto

Susan Randall

5 from 2 votes

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Prep Time 1 hour hr

Cook Time 5 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 5 minutes mins

Servings 2

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• ▢ 4 slices artisan bread I used dark rye
• ▢ 1 medium beet roasted and cut in small pieces
• ▢ 2 tablespoon pesto your favorite variety. I like Pasta Prima Superfood Pesto
• ▢ sliced gouda
• ▢ handful of fresh spinach washed
• ▢ olive oil to brush on bread or butter

Instructions

 

• Lightly spread one side( the "outside") of each of the bread slices with olive oil (or butter), spread the other side ( the "inside" of the sandwich) with pesto.
• Layer gouda and roasted beets on top of pesto.
• Heat a skillet over medium-low heat ( or heat a grill pan or panini press)
• Place the sandwich on the sk.illet ( or grill pan) and cook on one side until the bread is toasted and cheese is melting.
• Flip sandwich over and continue cooking until cheese is melty and bread is toasty.
• Open sandwich and add some fresh spinach leaves.
• Let cool a few minutes before cutting.
  

Yum! Yum! Yum!

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