Best Lunch on the Run

Sprouted Almond Pesto

Ingredients:

1 cup soaked almonds (or blanched, see tips below, or raw)

zest of one organic, un-waxed lemon

juice of ½ lemon

a dozen fresh sage leaves

pinch of sea salt

2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. Soak the almonds overnight, or for 8 hours, and remove the skin.

2. Place almonds in a food processor with remaining ingredients and pulse until desired consistency is reached. The one at Tartine was very chunky; I made mine a tad finer.

Tip: If you want to make this sandwich immediately (I understand), you can skip the sprouting process and just blanche the almonds to remove their skin. Pour boiling water over them in a pot and setting it aside for about a minute. Drain off the water, fill the container with cold water and slip the skins off by squeezing the almonds between your thumb and fingers.

Removing the skins is an important step in ridding the almonds of the enzymes that make them difficult to digest.

You can also forgo this process altogether too. Use raw almonds if you like.

The almond pesto tastes pretty good on its own, but really nothing compares to it rubbing up against good Pecorino and the like. You can try it on toast with honey for a savory/sweet breakfast treat, and I bet it would be a really tasty topping for a cozy winter stew.

Best Sandwich Ever

Ingredients:

Sprouted Almond Pesto

Pecorino Romano (sheep’s milk cheese, available at most grocery stores)

very good multi-grain sourdough

arugula

organic, raw honey

Directions:

1. Heat up your Panini press. If you don’t have one, use a cast-iron grill pan, a regular pan, or a toaster oven.

2. Cut bread into generous slices, slather with chunky almond pesto, layer on some thin slices of cheese. Drizzle (or in my case, pour) olive oil all over both sides of the sandwich.

3. Cook as you would a grilled cheese sandwich or Panini, flipping when necessary.

4. When you decide the sandwich is ready, remove from the pan, open the sandwich, toss in a handful of arugula, and drizzle with honey (I like my honey poured all over the outside. This makes eating way messier and way sexier!)

5. Devour.

Just to set the record straight, I have all kinds of love for Tartine. But I also have all kinds of love for myself and I what I put into my body. The fun part of giving your favorite foods a high-vibe makeover is that you can eat those ridiculously delicious foods and still get some sort of benefit from them. And isn’t it nice to know that you’re just a few simple tweaks away form that deep-fried Mars bar? Right