Recipe of the Week: Watercress Sandwich

Better late than never...I am writing this week's belated recipe of the week from paradise: my family watercress farm in Aiea, Hawaii. We are enjoying a week of fun in the sun before going to my cousin's wedding on Saturday.

As I sit looking across our green fields, I got inspired to share a recipe that highlights my family's prized crop. I am going to do another post on watercress and our farm, but here is a teaser for a fabulous sandwich that my mom came up with. If you can't get your hands on good watercress (there are a lot of limp, lifeless, wannabes out there), then you could probably get away fine with using arugula, which will also give the slightly spicy, crunch needed for this sandwich.

For a more carb-friendly version, you can make an "open face" sandwich and eliminate one of the slices of bread.

Ingredients:

• Two slices of good white bread (or whole wheat if you want to be healthier)


• 2-4 slices of prosciutto


• fontina cheese


• a big handful of watercress


• Olive tapanade

Olive tapanade (homemade, you can also just buy a bottle at a specialty grocery store!):

• 1/2 cup of assorted pitted olives (kalamata and green olives are best)


• 1/4 cup Parmesan


• 1/4 cup Monterey jack cheese
  
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 garlic cloves

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and put in Tupperware--this should last at least a week so you can use it on many sandwiches!

Sandwich:

Spread olive tapanade over both slices of bread and put in toaster oven or broiler until olive spread starts to bubble slightly. Add prosciutto and cheese and toast until the bread is browned to your liking and cheese is melted. Put a big handful of healthy and crisp watercress and eat immediately!

Happy Eating and Aloha,
Emi