Roasted Grape Tomato Panini

*This recipe was on the Rachel Ray show this week. It looked so tasty that we just had to try it.

Grape tomatoes, Roasted and crushed
1 tbsp olive oil
Crushed red pepper
Fresh basil leaves
Mozzarella cheese
Pepperoni slices
Bread slices (I made this with bread from my bread maker...yumm!)

To roast the grape tomatoes in the oven: Set oven to 400 degrees; sprinkle a little olive oil or canola oil over the tomatoes and toss to coat. Add salt and pepper. Bake for 20 minutes or until the tomato skins split open. Remove from pan and crush the tomatoes - I used a potato masher, but you could pulse it in a food processor. After the tomatoes are crushed, add 1 tbsp olive oil, and 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper to the tomatoes and mix well.


Heat panini maker. Spread some of the tomato mixture on 2 slices of bread; tear 2 or 3 fresh basil leaves into pieces and place over the tomato mix; sprinkle shredded mozzarella cheese over one of the slices; top with pepperonis and a little more cheese. Cover with the second slice of bread. Place in panini maker and cook until bread is golden brown and cheese is melted.

Alternatives: replace pepperoni with mini meatballs for a meatball sandwich taste.