Arugula/walnut pesto & mozzarella broiled sandwich with radicchio
Ingredients
2 bunches arugula
2 cups walnuts
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 cloves garlic
¼ cup parmesan
¼ cup pecorino
black pepper
½ tsp salt, more to taste
fresh mozzarella
baguette or ciabatta rolls
radicchio, a leaf or two depending on the side, for each sandwich
For the pesto:
Wash the arugula, leaving it a little wet, and place in a food processor. Add the peeled garlic, parmesan, pecorino, olive oil, black pepper, and salt. Pulse to chop everything up at first. Then process further into a paste/sauce. If it is too dry, add more olive oil and/or some lemon juice. Once it has become smooth, but is still perhaps too thick, add 1 teaspoon of water. Some magic emulsifying will happen and everything will come together.
To make the sandwich:
Cut the bread to size, spread generously with pesto, then pile on the mozzarella. Broil until melting but not yet colored. Press the washed/dried radicchio leaves into the cheese, kind of like gluing a collage when you were a child.
Return to the broiler for about 1 minute. The radicchio will cook and get less pretty, the cheese will bubble and up and finish with bits of brown here and there. Flip the radicchio leaves, revealing an intensified, gorgeous color on the other side, and stick them back in the cheese. Crack over more black pepper and flaky salt, maybe a drizzle of grassy olive oil.
Recipe courtesy of Andrew Barton.
