This delicious Mortadella Sandwich layers pistachio paste, thinly sliced mortadella, stracciatella cheese, and crushed pistachios on toasted focaccia. Mmm chefs kiss! ^_^
Mortadella is one of my favorite sandwich meats. It's like grown up bologna! What's not to love?
This mortadella sandwich is a homemade take on a popular sandwich that on the menu at many Italian sandwich shops (check out All'Antico Vinaio in NYC and Florence, and Bocconcino in Honolulu).
It's a simple sandwich and easy to make. The hardest part is getting the ingredients.
You can find most of these ingredients at an Italian market or online. The best part is that if you can't find the exact ingredients, there are many easy and delicious substitutions you can make (scroll down to the Substitutions and Variations section for details).
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Ingredients
Here's what you'll need:
- Focaccia - about 4x4 inch square, one per person.
- Pistachio paste - make sure to get pistachios paste without sugar. Most of the jarred pistachio paste found at the market and online are sweet versions of pistachio paste that is meant to be used for baking/desserts. Make sure to get one that is not sweetened.
- Thinly sliced mortadella
- Stracciatella cheese - stracciatella is not that easy to find, so you can also use buratta or mozzarella, or even ricotta.
- Crushed pistachios - I just put a handful of whole roasted pistachios in a mini food processor and chop for 5-10 seconds. Add a pinch of salt of you like!
- Salt, black pepper, and olive oil - optional, but recommended.
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Let's get sandwich making!
Toast.
Toast the focaccia until warm and golden. Slice it in half horizontally.
Add pistachio paste.
Spread the pistachio paste on the bottom half of the focaccia. Feel free to use more/less pistachio paste, it's just personal preference.
Note: you can also make homemade pistachio paste (recommended!) or make pistachio pesto. Or just used lots of crushed pistachios.
Add mortadella.
Top with slices of mortadella. Try to lightly "drape" the mortadella on top instead of simply layering the slices flat. This way you get more layers and volume to to the sandwich.
Tastes much nicer than just flat layers!
Add stracciatella.
Then spoon the stracciatella cheese on top of the mortadella. Make sure to get it alll over the top. I love stracciatella so I use a lot! You can use as much or as little as you like.
Add pistachios.
Sprinkle on the crushed pistachios.
Optional, but tasty:
Drizzle olive oil and add a little salt (we love this salt) and pepper on top. This is optional but all three ingredients (especially if you're using good olive oil) makes it very delicious.
Finish and enjoy.
Sandwich with the top half of the focaccia. Eat and enjoy!
Substitutions and Variations
Here are a few popular ideas:
No stracciatella?
No worries. Stracciatella isn't that easy to find, and it was only recently that I've been able to locate fresh stracciatella in Honolulu. You can replace the stracciatella with burrata, mozzarella, or even fresh ricotta. If using ricotta, I like to mix a little sea salt into the ricotta before spreading it on top. Definitely add a drizzle of olive oil in this case. Makes it extra tasty.
Replace the focaccia
This sandwich is most commonly made with focaccia or schiacciata (which is very similar to focaccia), but feel free to use any bread that you have on hand. I've even made this sandwich on Japanese milk bread and with baguette. Don't let not having focaccia stop you.
Replace the pistachio paste.
Pistachio paste is also not that easy to find. It's ok if you can't find it at a nearby market or don't want to order online. There are a few options:
- Make homemade pistachio paste.
- Make a simple pistachio pesto (chop pistachios, basil, olive oil together in a mini food processor) and use that as the spread.
- An even easier substitution is to chop the pistachios really fine and mix it with olive oil, salt, and pepper on bowl and use that as a spread.
- The easiest substitution is to use just chopped pistachios. Chop it as fine as you can and sprinkle it on the toasted bread. It's not as creamy/saucy as a spread, but it gets more pistachios in, which is the main goal.
Enjoy ^_^
Storage
You can prep and store the individual ingredients in advance. The sliced mortadella can be kept in the fridge for a week. Stracciatella can be kept for a few days.
But once you assemble the sandwich, please eat it right away (it's best when the bread is still warm!)
Top Tip
You can buy pistachio paste (we end up doing this most of the time so no judgement there :), but nothing tops homemade pistachio paste.
If you have the time, make a big batch of pistachio paste and store in it the refrigerator. It's way more cost efficient and more delicious.
If you buy pistachio paste, read the ingredient list and make sure there is no sugar. Most jarred pistachio pastes are sweet versions meant for dessert. We want pistachio paste without sugar for this recipe (otherwise you'll end up with a strangely sweet sandwich...a mistake we once made! :).
Mortadella Sandwich Recipe
Mortadella Sandwich
Ingredients
- 2 squares focaccia about 4x4 inches
- 1 tablespoon pistachio paste make sure there is no added sugar if you use a jarred pistachio paste
- 8 thin slices mortadella
- ½ cup stracciatella cheese
- 2 tablespoons pistachios crushed
- salt, black pepper, and olive oil optional
Instructions
- Toast the focaccia until warm and golden. Slice it in half horizontally.
- Spread the pistachio paste on the bottom half of the focaccia.
- Top with slices of mortadella. Try to "drape" the mortadella on top instead of just layering the slices. This way you get more layers and volume to it.
- Then spoon the stracciatella cheese on top of the mortadella.
- Sprinkle on the crushed pistachios.
- Optional: drizzle olive oil and add a little salt and pepper on top
- Sandwich with the top half of the focaccia. Eat and enjoy!
Nutrition
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Mahalo for Reading!