Crispy Mortadella Skewers, Antipasto Salad
A recipe dedicated to Joey Tribbiani, the man who loves pizza, sandwiches and women almost as much as he loves the New York Knicks.
Immediately I got to thinking of Anthony Bourdain’s famous mortadella sandwich, which is crisped over heat and paired with melted provolone. This recipe is simply the mortadella on skewers, crisped over high heat on a cast iron skillet at home. No grilling required, though you could definitely take this outside and grill if the weather permits.
A side antipasto salad is fresh, clean and similar to the chopped salad you find inside an italian sub. Picture red wine vinegar and mixed herbs among sliced red onion.
Serves two.
You’ll need: wooden skewers, short ones, 20cm, or as long as they fit in your pan
Ingredients:
24 slices of mortadella
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Antipasto Salad:
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 tsp dried mixed herbs, italian
pinch of salt and fresh cracked black pepper
1/2 head of radicchio, sliced thin
1/2 red onion, sliced thin
handful of cherry tomatoes, I used ‘sun gold’, sliced
3 mini bell peppers, yellow, sliced into rings
1 cup pitted green sicilian olives, halved
handful of parsley, roughly chopped
Method:
Combine the dressing ingredients: red wine vinegar, lemon juice, 1 tbsp olive oil, mixed herbs, salt and pepper, in a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine.
Macerate the radicchio: add radicchio to the bowl with the dressing and toss to evenly coat. Set to the side while you prepare the rest.
Crisp the mortadella skewers: roughly bunch up one mortadella sheet at a time and add to a skewer. Do 4 sheets per skewer, keeping them close and bunched up. Bring a cast iron skillet to very high heat with 1 tbsp olive oil. Once you see little whispers of smoke coming off the pan, add the skewers one by one and do not move them for approximately 5 minutes, or until you see golden crisp on the bottom.
It’s important not to pick them up and turn them before the crisp is perfect because we really need that initial contact with the pan to get the golden crisp! Also, it’s important that the pan be very hot so that it only crisps the outside and doesn’t cook them all the way through.
After turning over to the other side, turn down the heat to low and crisp for a few minutes less. Once golden on both sides, remove from heat.
Toss the salad: add the remaining salad ingredients to the bowl and toss to evenly coat.
Serve: 3 skewers per person with a generous serving of antipasto salad. Optional but delicious with a grating of parmesan over the salad. Enjoy straight away!
