Recipe: Banana Panino

Courtesy of Tria’s chef Nick Mezzina

Tria has made a name for itself with what, in retrospect is one of those too obvious kind of ideas: serving really good wine, beer and cheese at the same place. They also manage to pull it off without looking like super-snobs, and by searching out and using lots of great local food and drink.

Local farms and producers are always part of Tria’s menu, along with the many breweries and vineyards that populate the area around our fair city. Subscribing to the theory that the best way to convince people to eat locally is showing them how delicious it can be, this sandwich is an easy treat to make for dessert or as an ice cream-for-breakfast kind of adult meal.

Ingredients

• 8 slices of brioche (from Wild Flour Bakery on Torresdale Ave.)
• 8 oz. mascarpone (from Claudio’s in the Italian Market)
• 1 tbsp. confectioner’s sugar
• 6 fl. oz. cajeta (a local goat’s milk caramel sauce from Betty’s Tasty Buttons in Philadelphia)
• 2 bananas, peeled and sliced into thin rounds

Directions

1. In a small bowl, mix mascarpone and sugar with a rubber spatula.
2. Lay slices of brioche flat on a cutting board or clean surface.
3. Spread each slice with a generous spoonful of the mascarpone mix until it is all used.
4. Drizzle the mascarpone with cajeta.
5. On four of the eight slices of bread, arrange the bananas in a single layer until the bread is covered.
6. Close each sandwich and place in panini grill or on small heated oventop grill pan. If you use the pan, you will have to flip the sandwich halfway through.
7. Grill for three minutes. 
8. To serve, slice into halves or quarters.

   makes four sandwiches