Grilled Mortadella and Chevre Sandwiches

This recipe originally called for ham and swiss cheese, but we chose to revamp it with two of the most delicious food items known to man: mortadella and chevre.

Mortadella (Italian pronunciation: [mortaˈdɛlla]) is a large Italian sausage^[1] or cold cut (salume /sa'lume/) made of finely hashed or ground, heat-cured pork sausage, which incorporates at least 15% small cubes of pork fat (principally the hard fat from the neck of the pig). It is delicately flavored with spices, including whole or ground black pepper, myrtle berries,nutmeg, coriander and pistachios, jalapeños and/or olives.

In case you didn't make it through that definition, allow us to paraphrase: mortadella = awesome. You can find it at specialty stores for a small fortune, or you can also find it at Whole Foods in the deli case.

Grilled Mortadella and Chevre Sandwiches

Serves 3

12 slices mortadella

1 package garlic & herb chevre

1 loaf sourdough (sliced into 6 slices)

1 bunch arugula

1ea vidalia onion- thickly sliced and drizzled with olive oil

dijon mustard to spread

Get yer grill going! Once it is ready to go carefully place the onion slices on the grates. These can be an absolute pain, and fall through the cracks. Allow to cook roughly 10 minutes on each side. While onions are grilling, assemble your sandwiches.

On one slice of bread, spread the goat cheese, and on the other slice of bread spread a thin layer of dijon mustard topped with several arugula leaves. Fold the slices of mortadella and add four to each chevre covered slices of bread. Now that your onions are done cooking, place them on top of the mustard covered slices. Place all 6 slices of bread onto the grill for about 5 minutes, or until bread is toasted and arugula is wilted. Pair each mustard, arugula, and onion slice with a mortadella and chevre slice and serve immediately.

Kelly has had this recipe in her binder since freshman year of high school and never tried it until now. We ate these so hard. They were so phenomenal that we cannot find words to articulate how amazing they were. The edges of the mortadella became crispy from the flames, the vidalia onions became sweet as they cooked, and the chevre- OH, THE CHEVRE. Combined with the warm, wilted arugula and spiciness of the dijon, the flavors of this sandwich were an absolute explosion of crispy toasted heaven. Consider these our go-to relaxed lunch!

Items You'll Need to Buy

Arugula: $2.99 per bunch

Mortadella: $6.75 for 12 slices

Boursin Chevre: $3.49

Vidalia Onion: $0.49

Sourdough Loaf: $1.50

Dijon Mustard: $2.99

Total Meal Cost: $18.21

Of course, you can cut back on the price of these sandwiches by using regular ham and cheese, but I feel that $18.21 for a filling lunch for three people is pretty darn good!