Tigelles

Tigelles.  A fancy name for a ham and cheese breakfast sandwich.  The cookbook says, "Traditionally tigelle are served to grape pickers working in the high mountains between Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany as a fortifying snack."  Yet another really good recipe from The Best American Recipes 2005-2006.  This originally came from Bruce Aidells Complete Book of Pork.

We actually had breakfast on Saturday morning thanks to having company.  My brother-in-law, Tom, is visiting for the weekend.  He's been working in Chicago for the past few months so we've gotten to see him about once a month.  Now, he's taken a job back home in Boston so our visits will be via email and phone mostly :-( 

He got here really late on Thursday so he'd be here for Gallery Walk on Friday.  We had several choices for where to start the walk so narrowed our selection down to the restaurants that were close to the various walk areas.  There's Mass Ave, Fountain Square, the Stutz Building, Herron Art School and several outliers.  We finally decided on Greek food.  The place where you not only get the best Greek food ever but also the best bang for your buck - Santorini's.  The three of us split the Chef's Plate, an appetizer and a dessert and were stuffed.  Yes, you read that right - three of us split an entree for one.  It's just fantastic food.  Taki's Greek Potatoes are the best.  Lemony, cooked just right.  Perfect. 

What did we think of this?  Tom and I gave it a four out of five, Connie a three.  Connie would change out some of the cheese for a cheese with less bite.  I'd love to try it open faced under the broiler with toasted muffins then topped with a poached egg.  I'm not a huge bread eater so having two sides to the muffin was almost overkill for me.  How did I change the recipe?  I used cooking spray and a tablespoon of olive oil as opposed to the 1/4 c of olive oil called for in the recipe. With grilled cheese sandwiches, you're trying to get a lovely crust and all that oil is necessary. With these, you're just trying to get the paste melted...  We'll make these again.  The paste can be made the day before so they're super easy for no time to cook breakfasts.

Tigelle

Ingredients:

1 garlic clove, peeled
8 oz pancetta, diced
1/2 c freshly grated Romano or Parmesan
1/2 T chopped fresh rosemary
4 English muffins (preferably Thomas') fork-split in half
1 T - 4 T olive oil (depending on your preference)


Directions:
Put the pancetta, cheese, rosemary and garlic in the bowl of a food processor. 

Process until it's formed a paste.  Split English muffins in half. 

Put a thick schmear of the paste on half of the halves. 

Top with the other halves.  Cook these as you would a grilled cheese sandwich.

 
adapted from Best American Recipes 2005-2006.  Originally from Bruce Aidells Complete Book of Pork