Mario Batalis Goat Cheese And Green Olive Truffles Recipes

Steps:

• Line a baking sheet with parchment.
• Add the goat cheese, sour cream and salt to the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth, about 30 seconds. Using a tablespoon, scoop out some of the mixture and roll it into a ball to form a truffle. Place on the prepared baking sheet and repeat until you have 24 truffles. Transfer to the freezer to firm up, about 10 minutes.
• Put the dill and sesame seeds into separate small bowls. Mix the walnuts and cherries in a third small bowl.
• Roll 8 of the cheese balls in the dill, 8 in the sesame seeds and 8 in the walnut and cherry mixture. Transfer the truffles to a serving platter. Insert a pretzel stick into each truffle. If making ahead of time, cover and refrigerate the balls without the pretzel sticks, then insert the sticks right before serving.

Steps:

• Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and 2 tablespoons thyme and cook for 1 minute. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently, until they are browned and soft, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and let them cool for about 15 minutes. Put the mushrooms into a food processor and pulse a few times until they are finely chopped. (Alternately, you can chop them on a board with a knife.) Scrape them into a bowl. Crumble in the goat cheese and add the remaining thyme. Pour in the truffle oil, if using, and mix well to combine.
• Cut the focaccia into 4 pieces, slice them horizontally, and drizzle with some olive oil. On the bottoms place 1/4 of the mushroom mixture and top with some arugula. Put the tops on and gently press each sandwich to flatten it slightly. Drizzle some more olive oil over the tops.
• Place each sandwich on a preheated panini press and grill until the bread is toasted and the cheese begins to melt, about 5 minutes. Alternately, preheat a dry cast iron or non stick pan. Place the sandwich in the pan and weight it down with another pan or a clean brick wrapped in foil. Grill 5 minutes, turn the sandwich over, re-weight it, and grill for another 5 minutes. Serve immediately.