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Cheddar, Fig Jam and Rosemary Candied Pecan Panini

Recipe for sweet, savory and tangy panini with sharp cheddar, fig jam and rosemary candied pecans.

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Why it works: Rosemary and fig share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 39 recipes mention both. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

The recipe

Prep25 min
Cook40 min

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Preheat the oven to 300°F (149°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

  2. In a bowl, whisk the egg white with 1 tablespoon water until frothy. Add the chopped pecans and toss to coat.

  3. Stir together the sugar, chopped rosemary, coarse salt and cayenne pepper, then add to the pecans and toss until evenly coated.

  4. Spread the pecans in a single layer on the baking sheet and bake 25 to 30 minutes, stirring halfway, until the coating is dry, set and lightly golden. Cool completely.

  5. Spread the softened butter evenly over one side of each of the 8 bread slices, keeping the buttered sides facing outward.

  6. Spread fig jam on the unbuttered side of 4 bread slices. Layer the cheddar slices and candied pecans on top, then close each sandwich with a remaining slice, buttered side out.

  7. Heat a panini press or a large skillet over medium-low heat. Cook the sandwiches 3 to 4 minutes per side, pressing lightly, until golden and the cheese is melted through.

  8. Cut each panini in half and serve warm.

By paninihappy. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Rosemary + figtop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together39 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Rosemary + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,324 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Butter + breadtop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together27,145 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Pecans + figtop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together93 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Pecans + buttertop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,408 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs