Portabella and Roasted Red Pepper Sandwich w/ spinach and bacon pesto

Last night I made one of the best sandwiches I've ever eaten. I got a food processor for Christmas, since then I've made a couple of pestos. I couldn't believe how expensive it is to by pesto from the store so I figured why not just make it myself. The first one I made was way to garlicky, but the next one was pretty well balanced. I wanted to do something different for the next one and I thought of the bacon jam Kevin, a contestant on the last season of Top chef, made. The idea of a jam made out of bacon just seemed so good I figured why can't I add bacon to a pesto. One of my favorite combinations of toppings for a pizza is spinach and bacon, thats why I decided to use spinach as the base for the pesto. I figured the pesto would work well with portabellas and roasted red peppers, so I decided to combine them all into a sandwich. On Wednesdays my brother just eats a big salad, he was certainly looking at my meal with envious eyes. Its actually a very easy recipe to make and is very tasty, give it a try if you think it sounds good.

Portabella and Roasted Red Pepper Sandwich w/ spinach and bacon pesto

1 large sandwich

1 large portabella mushroom

1 red pepper

2 slices of provolone

3 c baby spinach

1/4 c basil

1/4 c parsley

2 garlic cloves

3 slices of bacon

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1 handful of pine nuts

1/4 plus 2-3 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Roll the red pepper in 1 tbsp of olive oil, season with salt and pepper and place on a baking tray. On the same tray lay the slices of bacon. Cook the bacon for about 10 minutes or until they are crispy. When you take the bacon out rotate the red pepper, continue to cook the pepper for about 30 total minutes rotating about every 10 minutes. When the pepper is done set it aside to cool, then peal away the skin, which should come off somewhat easily.

For the pesto toast the pine nuts over low to medium low heat for about 10 minutes making sure they don't burn. Then put the garlic, spinach, basil, parsley, pine nuts bacon and cheese into the food processor. Drizzle the 1/4 cup of olive into the mixture as it works in the food processor, you might not need all of the olive oil. It is done when it is similar to a paste.

For the portabella, wipe the top with a damp paper towel to clean it off. Over medium heat place the remaining tablespoons of olive oil. Saute the mushroom for 6-8 minutes on each side or until it is tender. Season with salt and pepper when it is almost done cooking. If you season mushrooms with the salt early in the cooking process it could draw the moisture out of them and dry them out.

To put the sandwich together I bake the bread for about 2 minutes with nothing on it. Take it out of the oven and spread some pesto on each half. Slice the mushroom and pepper into long pieces and place them onto the bread, alternating mushroom and pepper slices. Put the 2 slices of provolone on the half of bread that doesn't have the mushrooms and peppers then put the sandwich back into the oven to bake until the cheese starts to melt. When the cheese is melted take it out of the oven put the halves together and enjoy!