Goat Cheese: Warm Sandwich, Cool Salad

I have a delightful cookbook called "goat cheese" by Maggie Foard that I love to leaf through but I had yet to make anything from. I had some orzo in my pantry I was itching to use and I found a delicious salad recipe featuring orzo. Naturally I added my own tweaks, but I followed pretty closely. I paired it with a simple panini that turned out SO delicious and creamy with the goat cheese- that's right, it was a double goat cheese kind of evening!

Chicken Pesto Panini

2 garlic cloves, lightly roasted

2 tablespoons pine nuts, lightly toasted

2 tablespoons parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

1 cup basil leaves

1 cup spinach leaves

1/4 cup olive oil

1 loaf ciabatta bread, halved lengthwise and divided into 5 parts

1 rotisserie chicken, skin discarded, meat shredded
6 ounces chevre, crumbled

Combine first 4 ingredients in a food processor. Add basil and spinach and pulse. Keep processor on and stream in olive oil until desired consistency is reached. Spread pesto on inside of the ciabatta pieces. Place 1/2 cup chicken on bottom halves of ciabatta and top with 1/4 cup chevre. Top with ciabatta piece.

Cook on a grill pan on medium heat with a large cast iron skillet on top (or in a panini press if you have it) about 5 minutes on each side until bread is toasted and cheese is melted.

Spinach Orzo Salad

8 ounces orzo, cooked and cooled

8 ounces fresh spinach leaves

1 red onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 yellow bell pepper, halved, seeded and chopped

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup pine nuts

5 ounces feta cheese

1 cup cherry tomatoes

1/2 cup basil leaves, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup olive oil

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and thoroughly mixed. Serve! You can also add chicken to this to make it a main dish, which I did for lunch the next day with leftovers.