Ricotta & Black Olive Open Sandwich

Allison Day

by | Updated: December 4th, 2016

Some sandwiches are meant to be open faced. Trust me, you wouldn’t want a second slice of bread to block you from enjoying the rich and creamy ricotta-black olive filling of this sandwich. It’s all topped with arugula, juicy tomato slices and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar for a creation so heavenly you’d swear each bite was your destiny.

Black Olive-Ricotta Open-Faced Sandwich with balsamic drizzle on baking sheet www.vitacost.com/blog

Ricotta & Black Olive Open Sandwich

Serves 2 to 4

Ingredients

8 black Kalamata olives (can use Ponentine or Gaeta)
4, ¼-inch slices crusty whole grain ciabatta or large oval bread
1 cup loosely packed arugula
1 large or 2 small field tomatoes, sliced
1 clove garlic, halved crosswise
Sea salt, to taste
Ground black pepper, to taste
½ cup whole milk ricotta cheese
1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
2 tsp. balsamic vinegar

Directions

  1. In a broiler, on a grill or in a toaster, toast bread until well browned and very crunchy.
  2. Rub halved garlic onto one side of each slice of bread and drizzle with olive oil. Set aside on a serving plate.
  3. In a small mixing bowl, combine olives, ricotta cheese and ground black pepper.
  4. Scoop olive-cheese onto mixture onto bread. Add tomato slices and arugula. Top with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and a sprinkle of sea salt.
  5. If desired, slice bread in half before serving.
Allison Day

Allison Day is a nutritionist and recipe developer with a passion for creating simple, approachable, fresh and colorful whole food dishes. Her food writing, recipes, food styling and photography and nutrition advice have appeared in print and online publications such as alive, Prevention, Kris Carr, BuzzFeed, MindBodyGreen, BlogHer, The Kitchn, Epicurious, Well+Good NYC as well as on Cityline, Canada's number one daytime show. Clean Wellness is for anyone who wants to make healthy, sustainable and conscious choices about food. Allison’s vegetable-focused creations are created to be pleasing to all dietary preferences—no taste bud is left behind!