Grilled portobello mushroooms with mozzarella ‘en carrozza’ and pistachio pesto

Name: Grilled portobello mushroooms with mozzarella ‘en carrozza’ and pistachio pesto
Yield: Serve 4
Ingredients: salt and freshly ground black pepper; salt and freshly ground black pepper; plain flour for coating; 4 x 1 cm thick slices buffalo mozzarella; 1 teaspoon fresh oregano; 60 ml extra-virgin olive oil; 4 beef tomatoes, blanched, peeled and cut into 1 cm thick slices; 120 g Japanese breadcrumbs (panko); 120 g Japanese breadcrumbs (panko); 2 free-range eggs, beaten; 3 garlic cloves, crushed; 30 g pistachio nuts; 25 g pine nuts; 20 fresh basil leaves; 4 medium portobello mushrooms; 1 tablespoon freshly grated castelli vegetalia (parmesan-style cheese); 1 tablespoon freshly grated castelli vegetalia (parmesan-style cheese); 150 ml extra-virgin olive oil; 120 g ripe tomatoes, chopped; 1 teaspoon tomato puree; 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil; 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar; 2 tablespoons tomato ketchup

Preparation info

Serve
4

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Pure Vegetarian

By Paul Gayler

Published 2006

About

If buffalo mozzarella is not available use cow’s milk mozzarella. Panko crumbs are freeze-dried, which means they prevent the oil from soaking into the crumbs during frying. They can be sourced from oriental stores. Of course ordinary breadcrumbs could be used.

Ingredients

For the Tomato Vinaigrette

120 g ripe tomatoes, chopped
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2

Starter
Vegetarian

Method

For the tomato vinaigrette, place all the ingredients in a small food processor and blend for 30 seconds. Strain through a fine strainer and refrigerate until needed.

For the pesto, put all the ingredients in a blender and blitz to a coarse paste. Set aside.

Slice each mushroom cap horizontally. Brush with a little olive oil on both sides of each slice and place on a baking tray