An Innocent Panini?

Innocent is the sequel to Scott Turow's best seller from the 1980's, "Presumed Innocent."  I had enjoyed both the book and movie with Harrison Ford immensely many years ago, but haven't read any Scott Turow in ages.  Innocent picks up many years after Presumed Innocent left off, with the murder charges against Rusty Sabich dismissed but the truth behind the murder of his mistress, Carolyn Polhemus, still haunts him.  The book starts with Sabich waking up to find his wife Barbara dead in bed beside him.  This seemingly unsuspicious death quickly turns into a potential homicide, with the man that prosecuted Sabich in Presumed Innocent, Tommy Molto, who is now District Attorney, charging Sabich for Barbara's murder.  Molto and Sabich truly hate each other and most of the book is told from one of their perspectives.  In addition, Turow uses Anna, Rusty's law clerk and his moody son Nate as narrators.   The book is like a really good episode of Law and Order, or actually, it is more like the Good Wife.  An explanation of why this panini, filled with salami, stinky cheese and red wine onion jam is relevant to the book, after the jump.

Innocent starts out with a jolt - the opening chapter finds Rusty's wife Barbara dead in bed, and Rusty sitting with the body for 24 hours before calling anyone.  After that first chapter the book quickly turns into a roller coaster ride full of twists and turns and suspense as to what happens next.   And the best part is that the reader doesn't know whether Rusty killed or Barbara or how she died, so each page you are asking yourself, did he do it?  It was hard for me while I was reading to not picture Rusty as the Harrison Ford, and the character he created in the movie rather than the character in the first book, Presumed Innocent.  The book takes place in a fictional county in the Midwest.  Rusty is now an Appellate Court judge, about to launch a campaign for Supreme Court.  He has stayed in his marriage with Barbara for 20+ years even though she is clearly mentally ill - plagued with depression and scared to have much of a life outside the house.  Rusty stayed in this loveless marriage because of his son Nate - who has grown up to be a moody distant law student.  Just like in the first book, Rusty's real weakness is still young women, and he engages in a wildly inappropriate affair with his young clerk.  At first Barbara's death is treated as natural, but Rusty's old nemesis and now DA, Tommy Molto, soon starts to quietly build a murder case against Rusty.  Molto feels like Rusty thinks he is second-rate, and has a serious chip on his shoulder.  But despite his dislike for Rusty, he is an ethical attorney with a real moral core - while he may be doing this for revenge, he still wants to build a real case.  He is convinced that Rusty did murder Carolyn Polhemus and he does not want to let him get away with murder twice.  Once Rusty is indicted, his old attorney the charismatic Sandy Stern - but this time Stern is ill with lung cancer.  The trial scenes are once again really enjoyable - Turow has a knack for creating tension and excitement in his descriptions of legal proceedings, which are in reality incredibly dry and boring.  I was hooked into this book up until the last page.  If you like legal thrillers, you will love this.  If you don't, I wouldn't pick it up.  I also think that to get the most out of the book you should have read Presumed Innocent, or at least seen the movie!  Now onto the food - one theory the prosecution presents in its case against Rusty is that he poisoned his wife by feeding her foods that contain tyramines, which interacted poorly with her anti-psychotic meds and then giving her an overdose of those meds.  The foods that contain tyramines are salamis and other cured meats, aged cheeses and red wine, hence my panini below.  Rusty and his wife had a little meat and cheese platter with red wine the night before she died.  Who knew this little snack could be the basis for a murder charge?  The panini below doesn't really need a recipe. I used my panini press and to make it more complicated I made a red wine-thyme--onion compote to go with the sandwich. I improvised this and it was yum! The recipe for that is below.

Innocent Panini
Crusty bread
Salami, Sopressata - 3 - 4 slices each
good stinky melting cheese - I used Fontina - 2 -3 slices
Red Wine-Thyme-Onion Compote (Recipe Below)
Pile on sandwich as you like, and press in a panini maker or grill.

Red Wine-Thyme-Onion Compote

(printable recipe)
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 - 2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon thyme
1 cup red wine
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions: in a small saucepan, heat olive oil.  Add onions and cook over medium heat till translucent.  Add sugar and toss to coat, add thyme, cook until onions start to caramelize, about 10 minutes.  Add red wine and simmer until red wine is reduced to syrup, about 15 minutes.  Add salt and pepper. Cool and serve.  This went great on the sandwich, would also be good with cheese and crackers or on a crostini.