PaninoLog: Pizza Bianca with Robiola and White Truffle Oil

With a successful test run of the latest addition to The Food Section test kitchen, I have been experimenting with variations on the pressed sandwich theme.

The first installment in this PaninoLog is inspired by pizza with robiola cheese and white truffle oil, which I first tasted at Sapori d'Ischia, an Italian market/restaurant located on the industrial fringe of Woodside, Queens.

The pizza consists of a baked crust that is split, stuffed with a layer of fresh robiola, and drizzled with truffle oil. It's essentially a giant sandwich of sorts, so it lends itself to paninadaptation [note: this is not a real word].

To make the panino version of the pizza, I took a rectangular piece of Sullivan Street Bakery pizza bianca, carefully sliced the bread in half, and spread the inside with fresh robiola. Placing the other piece of bread on top, I lightly brushed both exterior sides with truffle oil and then grilled the sandwich in the panini press. Within minutes, the press produced a thin, crisp sandwich oozing with the creamy, melted robiola and the earthy essence of the truffle oil.