2.008
13 (Thu) January 2011
Panini Caprese
3.0
by me
at Caffée Pascucci
-Sinchon, Seodaemun, Seoul, Korea-
solo
Panini is an Italian dish (sort of). In Italian, the word is the plural form of “panino,” which means “small bread roll” and refers both to the bread and sandwiches made with it. Outside of Italy, “panini” has come to mean a grilled sandwich, often on a ciabatta, usually with ham or sausage and melted cheese.
Insalata Caprese is an Italian dish. Sliced mozzarella, sliced tomatoes, sweet basil, olive oil, salt, pepper. Often arranged in layers to reflect the colors of the Italian flag: red (tomato) + white (mozzarella) + green (basil).
This so-called Panni Caprese consisted of slightly warmed sesame seed bread, some sort of melted cheese, and what appeared to be tomato paste. Neither panini nor caprese. The photo doesn’t provide scale, but the thing was tiny; I finished it in exactly 8 bites. At 5,000 won, not cheap. Still, it was okay, price and size and ambiguous classification notwithstanding.
With about 40 hours remaining until my doctoral dissertation needs to be sent to the printers, I don’t have the luxury of spending time in search of good eats, though apparently I’m allowing myself a few minutes to write about it.
