Italian Sandwich

The other day my mom and I were doing errands and we decided to stop and get a cold sandwich at Starbucks but this must have been a magical Starbucks, because they had hot sandwiches and I got one that resembles this lovely sandwich, that is absolutely bursting with Italian flavor (amazing for a chain coffee shop)! So I just had to re-invent it, and see if I could make it better then the baristas at Starbucks can. And, well, this just encourages my love of Italian food.
Oh so yummy with a glass of San.Pellegrino!

Enjoy!
[Serves 4]

• 1 loaf Ciabatta bread
• 10 slices sun dried tomatoes (packed in olive oil)
• 2 fresh tomatoes, sliced
• 1 8oz ball mozzarella, shredded
• 1 quantity pesto (see below)
• Handful spinach, stems removed and torn if necessary

Slice the bread in half horizontally, trim so that the the bread is no more then 1/4 inch thick. Spared the pesto on the bottom half of the bread, sprinkle on the cheese, layer on the sun-dried tomatoes, drizzle top and bottom slices of bread with olive oil, and broil for 5-7 minutes. Remove from the oven, and add the spinach and layer on fresh tomato, ans sprinkle a liberal amount of salt and pepper. Replace the top and cut into 4 slices.

Pesto

• 0.66oz basil
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 1/8 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/8-1/4 cup olive oil

Place all ingredients in a food processor; add oil as needed to get a thick paste.

(Original recipe by M.E.)
(Photography by M.E. photography madey-kay.blogspot.com)