Avocado, pistachio & arugula sandwich

Last month I was invited by Dusty Lockhart of ThreeLockharts to a dinner at Cork to check out the latest items on their menu with some of the other DC food bloggers. I was excited! First, I had a great time when I first met Dusty at Bar Pilar: we had so much in common {our love of Brussels sprouts, dance movies, etc...it was almost like a great first date}. Second, I've heard of Cork, but have never been to it. And finally, a night of wine and food is never a bad thing in my opinion.

From the restaurant's website:

"Cork Restaurant & Wine Bar is the creation of Logan Circle residents Diane Gross and Khalid Pitts. Our dream in creating Cork was to open a welcoming space in our neighborhood for people to come with their friends and family to try outstanding wines, often from unexplored regions of the world, paired with good, simple, local food."

Diane and Khalid were our hosts for the night, and it actually felt like we were inside their home...perhaps the presence of their adorable baby at the table had something to do with it. The restaurant was casual but with a great mood, the food was served in platters to share and the wine never stopped pouring.

One of the dishes that surprised me during the meal was a piece of grilled bread topped with avocado, pistachios, toasted pistachio oil, and sea salt. It was inventive, and yet so simple. And so good!

This past weekend I decided to recreate the dish in my own kitchen but with a few little changes.

Avocado, pistachio & arugula sandwich

Ingredients

Kaiser roll
arugula
oil
salt & pepper
avocado
pistachios, chopped

Directions
1. Cut Kaiser roll in half and toast.
2. Dress arugula with olive oil, salt & pepper.

3. In a bowl, mash avocado. Season with salt & pepper.

4. Spread the mashed avocado on one half of the Kaiser roll, top with arugula and chopped pistachios.

5. Top it with the second half of the Kaiser roll.

Please do me a favor and try this sandwich! I know it has a lot of green in it, but it's so good! The avocado is buttery and soft, the arugula is slightly bitter and the pistachios are bright and crunchy! In the summer, this would go so well with a thick slice of a ripe tomato.

What's your favorite way to eat an avocado?

PS I'm off to Puerto Rico on Thursday, so please don't be mad if I don't reply to your comments ;) I'll be back next week and will be posting a few recipes in the meantime for Moroccan Chicken and Sweet Potato & Black Bean Chili.

toodles!