Mortadella & Pistachio Panino
Photo by Eaters Collective on Unsplash
Thick-cut mortadella, crushed pistachios, stracciatella, a little lemon zest. Bologna in a sandwich. Don’t press it — it doesn’t need it. It needs space to breathe.
Prep: 10 min · Cook: None · Serves: 1 · Press: No
Ingredients
- 1 ciabatta roll, good quality
- 120g mortadella, sliced thick (4–5mm)
- 80g stracciatella or burrata
- 25g shelled pistachios, roughly crushed
- Zest of half a lemon
- A few basil leaves
- Good olive oil
- Flaky salt & black pepper
Method
- Prepare the bread. Slice the ciabatta roll horizontally. If it’s very thick, pull out a little of the soft interior crumb — you want the filling to be the star, not the bread. Drizzle both cut sides lightly with olive oil.
- Layer the mortadella. Fold the mortadella loosely rather than laying it flat — you want volume and air, not compression. The fat in mortadella is part of the point; treat it gently.
- Add the stracciatella. Spoon the stracciatella in generous dollops over the mortadella. Season it lightly with flaky salt and black pepper. The stracciatella should be cold — the contrast with the room-temperature meat matters.
- Finish and serve. Scatter the crushed pistachios over the top, add the lemon zest, and tuck in a few basil leaves. Close the sandwich and press down very gently — just enough to hold it together. Eat immediately.
Why not press it: Mortadella is delicate and the stracciatella is wet. Press it and you’ll squeeze out the cheese and flatten the meat into something texturally uninteresting. This sandwich is about lightness. A panino press is for other sandwiches.