Sandwiches make the rain go away.. sort of...

Olive Ciabatta with fresh mozzarella, radicchio, roasted zucchini and asparagus, and pesto creme fraiche

It's raining again in Heidelberg. And yes, I'm rolling my eyes about it. It's been raining alot. So I am housebound, when I'd rather not be. And this morning it surprised me as I was wandering around the farmer's market, and I, of course, was without my umbrella. The problem is, everything is closed on Sundays, so if you have no food in the fridge on Saturday, you have little choice but to brave the weather. And aside from that, my farmer's market won't be back until Wednesday so it's really not just Sunday I have to worry about.

So after a trip to the farmers market, the bakery, the butcher, the fish monger, the wine store, and a specialty food shop, I was finally done. If only they were in the same place. I was chilled to the bone by the time I got home. Thankfully I didn't need to go to the grocery store too.

I had a few exciting finds this morning, but my best was a loaf of Olive Ciabatta. And it was as simple as it sounds. A Ciabatta loaf with green olives in it. (Although I think I might have preferred black olives) As you can see by the picture below, there are many olivey bites to be had in this loaf. This bread looked to me like it could stand some hearty treatment.

And since the weather left me chilled and grumpy, warm and hearty was exactly what I wanted.
With all the vegetables I had in my fridge I decided to make a roasted vegetable sandwich. And yes, I think it did make the rain go away.

Here's the quick version of my tasty sandwich.

Grill or roast asparagus and zucchini tossed with olive oil. (zucchini cut down the length into slices, a little less than a 1/4 inch thick) Spread a little olive oil on the ciabatta and grill or broil it so it is toasty. Put a layer of fresh mozzarella on the bottom of the ciabatta and put it back under the broiler for a minute or two to soften the cheese. Top with freshly cracked black pepper. Top with roasted asparagus, a few soft leaves of radicchio, and then the grilled zucchini. Take the top bun and spread it with a mixture of basil pesto and creme fraiche and place it on top of the zucchini. You could also put the pesto/creme fraiche on the bottom bun, next time I will. Eat!

Now, I think it might be an afternoon for opening a bottle of wine and digging into our dvd collection..


Olive Ciabatta