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

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

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