Grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches with kale pesto

Grilled cheese and tomato with kale pesto
From newpotato.com

Ingredients

Butter, room temperature, for spreading

8 thick slices sourdough or country bread

Kale pesto (see below) or other prepared pesto

Sliced Fontina cheese (about ½ pound for 4 sandwiches)

Large tomato, thinly sliced

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

 

Kale pesto

½ cup pumpkin seeds

1 bunch kale, about 8 ounces (Lacinato works well here)

2 large garlic cloves, peeled and left whole

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

½ to ¾ cup olive oil

Method
Toast pumpkin seeds in a medium saucepan. Remove from pan and let cool.

Bring salted water to a boil in the saucepan. Add garlic and kale and blanch for a minute. (You might need slightly longer if you use a tougher variety of kale.) Remove from pan and plunge into cold water to stop the cooking process. Drain well.

In a food processor, combine ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese, pumpkin seeds, kale and garlic. Process until well combined. With motor running, add lemon juice and enough olive oil to reach desired consistency. Season to taste with salt.

Butter bread slices on one side. Place butter-side down on a work surface. Spread tops of bread generously with the pesto. (You will have an abundance of leftover pesto. This is not a problem, because it is tasty.) Top bottom slices with half the Fontina, then the tomatoes, then the remaining  ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese, then remaining Fontina. Top with bread slice and press down slightly.

Preheat a panini press or skillet. Transfer sandwiches to prepared pan. Cook until toasty on one side, about 5 minutes and then flip over until toasted on the other side if you're using a skillet. And this is one case where I'm reminded why panini presses rule, since flippage is a chance for slippage. Keep careful watch, since Fontina takes a bit of time to melt, but then it goes straight from solid to liquid.

Rating: Ooey, gooey goodness. A satisfying hot mess to eat. While I'm sure any pesto would do, the kale pesto has the advantage that the kale stays a nice bright green and the pumpkin seeds give it a nice nutty flavor.