Saturday, November 2, 2013

Green Olive Tapenade & Mozzarella French Toast Sandwiches

Green Olive Tapenade & Mozzarella French Toast Sandwiches 1

I know there are people out there who love a good sandwich, and whose imagination knows no bounds when it comes to dreaming up creative things to put into said sandwich.  I'm not one of them.  It might be a throw-back to all those school lunches I hated, but I confess to a certain amount of ambivalence towards sandwiches.

Should I happen to go into a cafe for lunch, the rest of what they have on offer would have to totally suck before I would choose a sandwich, and chances are, if the sandwich is the only appealing thing they have on offer, I would get up and leave.  My one exception to dining out on a sandwich is the classic BLT - who doesn't love that? - however, my rule for that is it's room service food called for in the middle of the night, and must be accompanied by a big bowl of french fries.

Likewise, it would be a rare thing for me to make a sandwich at home.  A slice of fresh bread or toast, with something delicious atop ... sure, but a sandwich ... no.

And there's an art to composing a sandwich, don't you think?  Someone round here loves a sandwich, which should contain ham, mustard, beetroot, cheese, tomato, lettuce, boiled egg, and mayonnaise.  Being asked to make said sandwich fills me with anxiety.  For a start, should the ham be at the bottom or the top?  In what order should the remaining ingredients be added?  Then, how on earth do you get all that to stay together, without everything collapsing out the sides as soon as you put the top layer of bread on?  It's all just fraught with difficulty.

I can, however, manage to pull off a "chip buttie", the obligatory accompaniment to fish and chips - take two slices of soft white bread, slather generously with butter, select half a dozen or so of the best, fattest chips, and envelop them between the two slices of bread.  Ditto the "bacon sarnie" - as above, but replace the chips with two or three rashers of bacon straight from the pan.

I do have a couple of other sandwiches in my repertoire ... these gorgeous little hearts of lemon, cream cheese and basil (the perfect pass around with a glass of bubbles), and these Chocolate Panettone French Toast Sandwiches (just the thing for a decadent Sunday brunch) ...

Sandwich Collage

... or these Orange Mango French Toast Sandwiches served with a Honey Roasted Strawberry Compote.  Now, that's my kind of sandwich!

Orange Mango French Toast with Honey Roasted Strawberry Compote 3

Which, at last, brings me to my point - if you want to get me to eat a sandwich, try soaking it in egg, frying it in butter, and calling it french toast.  You can guarantee I won't be turning my nose up at that.

So, with out theme this week at I Heart Cooking Clubs of Sandwich Sensations, the hunt was on through my Donna Hay books to come up with a sandwich that was going to excite me.  I did give more than passing thought to the idea of ice cream sandwiches, but in a time deprived week baking cookies and making ice cream was just not going to happen.  Of course, I know that Donna wouldn't blink twice at the idea of using store-bought cookies and ice cream, but somehow that just didn't exactly seem blogworthy.  Flicking through my books, I found all manner of steak sandwiches, burgers, baguettes filled with chicken or prosciutto, but that just wasn't what I was looking for.  I was after french toast, but I felt more inclined towards something savoury, than the sweet direction my french toast usually takes.  And then I found it ... on the Donna Hay website, this recipe for Fried Mozzarella & Olive Finger Sandwiches.

I began by making my own tapenade, using green olives and capers, rather than the store-bought black olive tapenade in the original recipe, and my tapenade recipe follows.  Realistically, if you can't be bothered, a store-bought tapenade is fine, but in defence of making your own - this will make more than you need for a sandwich, the leftover will keep for ages and makes a great addition to an antipasto platter, and homemade works out at a fraction of the price of store-bought.  Oh, and did I mention it really only takes about five minutes to make, using ingredients you probably already have on hand - you couldn't run out to the store and buy some in that time.

I hope you'll give this sandwich a try.  The tart, briny, lemony, herbaceous flavours of the tapenade are a great foil to the creamy mozzarella, and there is no better way I know to encase such a filling than with soft-on-the-inside-crunchy-on-the-outside french toast with a parmesan crust.  Yes, that's right ... parmesan crust ... didn't see that coming, did you?!

Green Olive Tapenade 1

Green Olive Tapenade Recipe
A Couscous & Consciousness original
Makes about 1-1/2 cups
Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

1 cup green olives
(do yourself a favour and buy stone-in olives - pitting them is not difficult and the flavour is superior)
1-1/2 tablespoon capers
1/4 of a preserved lemon (skin and flesh)
(or substitute grated zest of a lemon and lemon juice to taste)
1x clove garlic
handful flat leaf parsley
freshly ground black pepper
extra virgin olive oil

Remove pits from olives and put them into your food processor - if your processor has a small bowl attachment that will be ideal.

Add capers, preserved lemon, garlic, parsley and pepper to the food processor.  Pulse a few times until everything is roughly chopped.  Now, with the motor running, add olive oil in a thin stream until you achieve a coarse paste.

Taste.  With the brininess of the olives and capers, as well as the salty preserved lemon, it is unlikely you will want to add any salt.  However, if you've used fresh lemon instead, you may feel the need to add a tiny bit of salt.

Store in the refrigerator.  Will keep at least a couple of weeks.

Green Olive Tapenade & Mozzarella French Toast Sandwiches 3

Green Olive Tapenade &
Mozzarella French Toast Sandwiches Recipe
Adapted from a recipe by Donna Hay
For one sandwich
Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

2x slices wholemeal sourdough bread
1 tablespoon green olive tapenade (see recipe above, or store-bought)
3x slices of mozzarella
1x egg
2 tablespoons milk
flaky sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
1 tablespoon butter

Spread one slice of bread with the tapenade, top with the mozzarella, and then the remaining slice of bread.  Cut sandwich into three even-sized pieces.

In a shallow dish, whisk together the egg, milk, salt and pepper.  Spread the Parmesan out on a plate.

Melt the butter in a non-stick frying pan set over medium heat.

Meanwhile, dip the sandwiches in the egg mixture, leaving them a good minute on each side to soak up all the egg mixture.

Remove sandwiches from the egg mixture and press them into the Parmesan, coating both sides.

Transfer sandwiches to the hot frying pan, and cook until golden brown on both sides and the mozzarella is melting and gooey.

Serve immediately.

Green Olive Tapenade & Mozzarella French Toast Sandwiches 2

If you would like to get to know Donna Hay a little better, and to see all the Sandwich Sensations my friends have come up with, then visit I Heart Cooking Clubs and check out the links.

IHCC Donna Hay Badge resized

I'll also be sharing this post this week at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by the lovely Michelle at Ms. enPlace, Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth at Beth Fish Reads, Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays hosted by my special friend Deb at Kahakai Kitchen, and at Foodie Fridays hosted by Designs by Gollam.

See Ya in The Gumbo Badge        Weekend Cooking Badge         Souper Sundays Badge         Foodie Friday Badge


55 comments:

  1. Those sandwiches, esp. those with tapenade, look mouthwatering!

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    1. Thanks, Angie, and thanks for visiting - I hope you'll stop by again.

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  2. Those look soooo good! Savoury French toast is very new to me - the Donna Hay recipe I made was a first - and I'm loving all of the variations I'm seeing this week. I'm going to have to give this one a try.

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    1. Thanks, Zosia. Don't think I'd ever tried a savoury french toast before other - but it was an absolute winner. I think it's totally changed the way I make toasted sandwiches now. Your version looked great too - can't wait to try that one.

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  3. A French toast and grilled cheese mash-up...I'm definitely into this!!

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    1. Joanne, I think you'd totally love this one - right up your alley. It's totally gilding the lilly as far as a grilled cheese goes, but I don't think I'll ever make a grilled cheese any other way again.

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  4. I love mozzarella and French toast! You've sold me on it.

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    1. Thanks, Sunita. Hope you give it a try - I'm sure you'd love it.

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  5. Your tapenade sandwich looks yummy! These days, I usually turn my French Toast ideas into a sweet bread pudding instead. Now, I'm thinking of some savory variations!

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    1. Thanks, Joy. I love it when a recipe causes to rethink some classics and turn a sweet dish on its head and come up with a savoury variation. I made a savoury clafouti a while back (http://couscous-consciousness.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/clafoutis-provencal-cookbook-sundays-11.html) which was a real revelation.

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  6. Ooh I'll have to try making that tapenade! I usually go with store bought but yours looks delish. Lovely photos and sandwich ideas.

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    1. I do hope you have a go at making your own tapenade. It's really incredibly easy, and I nearly always have the ingredients on hand. You can make black olive tapenade really easily too - just substitute black olives for the green ones, obviously, and a few anchovies for the capers.

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  7. Delicious post -- I'm tempted by your tapenade! Also share your french toast love (I'm drooling particularly at the orange mango french toast with strawberry compote). Who can resist melty mozzarella? I'm already a sandwich lover and need little convincing. :)

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    1. Thanks so much, Jama. If you're a french toast lover, I'm sure you'll love this. I have a feel I'm going to give all my toasted sandwiches from here on in the "french toast treatment"!

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  8. This makes me weep! (In a good way) I MUST try this. Really. Olives, mozzarella, Parmesan? Yes, please.

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    1. Hope you enjoy it, Beth - keep the tissues nearby for mopping up the "happy tears" :-)

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  9. just love your heart shaped sammies - I need to get me a cutter - so cute! I think they'd be good with cucumber in them. Cheers

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    1. Thanks, Carole - the little lemon sandwiches really are sweet, aren't they :-) and the lemon delivers a totally unexpected flavour explosion.

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  10. I've never tried tapenade. It sounds and looks yummy!

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    1. Thanks, Vicki - tapenade is a totally delicious condiment to have on hand. Easy to make and really packs a punch flavourwise.

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  11. You have no idea how tempting this post was! I love, love, love olive tapenades.

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    1. Thanks very much. I love olive tapenades too - hope you give this one a try - so quick and easy, and so tasty :-)

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  12. THis is really a deluxe french toast! I have never tasted tapenade before, you description and the recipe make me can't wait to have a try!

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    1. Thanks, Joy. Tapenade is a great condiment to have on hand - it's delicious in sandwiches, as a relish to go with fish or chicken, or makes a great addition to a platter of breads and spreads. Hope you give it a try.

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  13. This is the most perfect sandwich, hot, crunchy outside, gooey tasty middle. What more could anyone want.

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    1. Thanks, David - you're right, this delivered the perfect balance of hot & crunchy, and soft and gooey :-)

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  14. LOL on your sandwich woes...I swear, if I want to make sure the guys eat something, the sure way to go is to put it between slices of bread or on a bun! All that said, this sandwich looks really good and flavorful. I think this would be a winner here. Thanks for tapenade recipe, can't have too many versions of tapenade!

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    1. Kayte, I love your answer to getting your family to eat something. My way of getting something eaten around here is to serve it with broccoli!! You're right - you can never try too many variations on tapenade.

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  15. I would call this a dressed-up grilled cheese! And that's the only sort of sandwich I like myself (I was also turned off by school lunches and one-too-many forced trips to Subway back in the day...), so it looks amazing. YUM.

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    1. Hi Cecelia - yes, I would definitely call this a dressed-up grilled cheese, and that's exactly what makes it so good.

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  16. I'm the same way as you -- don't care much about sandwiches, but love both grilled cheese and French toast. Great idea to combine the two, but with hubby on a low-carb diet, I won't be indulging any time soon. I'll bookmark for later!

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    1. Laurie, this is the perfect combo of grilled cheese and french toast, and would be a wonderfully decadent treat once a diet is out of the way.

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  17. First I must say that your photos of this sandwich are absolutely stunning, Sue! Now saying that, I must say that while I love a good sandwich I DO NOT enjoy making them for ANYONE!! I think making a sandwich is a very personal thing and you need to know someone rather well to fix it the way they like it. Now this particular sandwich has A LOT going for it. Creamy melty mozzarella and a colorful salty briney olive tapenade. However, I think what has sold me is the parmesan crust. It looks absolutely perfect!

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    1. Thanks, Kim - you're very kind. I agree with you - a person should definitely make their own sandwich. As you say it's a very personal thing - only the person eating it knows exactly the right amount of butter, the exact thickness of the bread, the right amount of condiments and seasoning, the balance of fillings and their order - ordinarily if we're doing sandwiches around here, I like to put everything on the table and let people compose their own. This was a great sandwich though, and the parmesan crust was the absolute icing on the cake.

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  18. Oh, My! Good sandwich. Chaya made this one, too, but with red peppers. Both of them look fantastic. Thanks for the olive recipe.

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    1. I saw Chaya's version of this too - I loved her idea of using a red pepper dip instead of the tapenade - I think pesto would also work really well.

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  19. Wow, does that sandwich look good. I'm pinning this one for sure.

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  20. OK, now that I have tried the sweet version of a French toast sandwich, I need to try the savory one. This looks fabulous with that tangy tapenade with gooey cheese. Yum! ;-)

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    1. Deb, I think you'd love the savoury version of the french toast sandwich, and I think you could use any manner of great fillings, especially with the parmesan crust.

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  21. Oh, and I forgot to say thank you for sharing it and your salad last week with Souper Sundays too! ;-)

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  22. All the sandwiches look great. I'd go for black olive tapanade, hold the anchovies. The ham goes at the bottom of Graham's sandwich but I'm sure he's happy with however you make it.

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    1. Thanks, Clare - I love black olive tapenade too, and you can't taste the anchovies.

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  23. This is an amazing looking french toast sandwich! Your homemade olive tapenade looks so good! I have a bottle of tapenade in my pantry (gosh, got to check the expiry date!), but yours sure looks much better and so delicious! A mouth-watering sandwich, Sue!

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    1. Thanks so much, Joyce. Oh, yes, check out that jar of tapenade - actually, if it hasn't been opened already it's probably fine.

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  24. You've made me laugh again, Sue. After years (and years!) of sandwiches in my lunchbox day after day, I often refer to sandwiches as "barfwiches." Because I'm mature like that.

    These are so far from being barfwiches. In fact, I'm finding myself needing to work these in soon. While I like black olive tapenade, I like green olives so much more.

    Thank you for linking!

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    1. Oh, now it's you making me laugh, Michelle. "Barfwiches" - I love that, and certainly describes how I used to feel about my school lunchbox sandwiches.

      These are definitely a notch above barfwiches, and I'm sure you'd enjoy them. I'm with you - I love black tapenade, but I think I do prefer the green.

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  25. Love the idea of using olive tapenade that I have sitting in the fridge in a grilled cheese.

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  26. Your recipe is one of the "most viewed" at this week's Foodie Friday (Rattlebridge Farm)! Your photos and commentary are outstanding, as is your wonderful sandwich with olive tapenade. Hope to see you again soon.

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    1. Thanks so much, Michael. I definitely hope to participate more often.

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  27. This looks so delicious that I've put it on tonight's menu! Thanks for sharing. Found you through Ms. EnPlace.

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    1. Thanks so much, Pary Moppins. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did :-)

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  28. How delicious these sandwich look !!
    I've just eaten but if I could I'd eat these too :)

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  29. Thanks, Winnie. Thanks for stopping by, and hope you give these a try sometime when you've got room for them :-)

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