My Latest Food Obsession

A few months ago, when Aunt Cleo was visiting, she kept telling me about a delicious sandwich she had at a restaurant in Austin, TX. She said it was simple, just a few ingredients, so I had to try it out. Basically, it is a mouth-watering-open-faced-pesto-tomato-mozzarella delight. It is simply DIVINE! Aunt Cleo, the girls, and I ate these for lunch at least three or four times while she was here for a month. Thank you so much, Aunt Cleo, for telling me about this wonderful recipe.

I make the pesto fresh, although at the beach I made the sandwiches with jarred pesto, in a pinch, when we had a craving for this incredibly easy, delightful treat. I keep a basil plant growing just outside the back door, and as soon as there are enough leaves, I strip that baby down and whip up the pesto.

To make these, simply slice a loaf of French bread on the diagonal. (That makes room for two thick slices of tomato.) Spread each slice of the bread with pesto and plop on a couple thick slices of tomato, side by side. Top with thick slices of fresh mozzarella. (Fresh mozzarella makes these so good. I have made them with shredded pizza mozzarella, but they just aren't the same.) I assemble and bake these on my pizza stone, because it makes the bread nice and crispy, but never burns. Toast these in a 350-375 degree oven for 10-15 minutes until the tops are bubbly!

Hope you enjoy trying my latest obsession.

Here is my recipe for pesto. I halve this because I never have 2 cups of basil leaves at one time.

Fresh Basil Pesto

• 2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Romano cheese (or Parmesan)
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts
• 3 medium sized garlic cloves, minced
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

I chop all this up in my little hand held food chopper, so perhaps my pesto has a little more "texture" than usual. A small food processor would work, too. It keeps well covered in the refrigerator for a while, or so I'm told. I wouldn't know because we eat it up too fast!

Mix up the pesto.

Spread it on the French bread.

Top with tomato and fresh mozzarella.

Be careful, they are HOT!

Whoa, Lacy! Slow down...there's more!