Recipe: Lunchtime Italian Style Open Topped Bagels with Mozzarella and Deli Salami

Lunchtime is always a bit of a conundrum for me. Breakfast, simple: usually I go for a bowl of fresh berries topped with yogurt. Dinner? I try out different recipes, make big meals etc. but I never really know what to make for lunch. It has become one of my food resolutions to try and be more adventurous with my lunches, and when I picked up some delicious cured salami in a local deli I decided to take a look at what I had in the fridge and in the larder. I came up with this, a Italian style open topped bagel. 

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You can really use anything you have to hand, but I think all of the flavours in this version I came up with blend perfectly. I used 1/2 a ball of mozzarella (I had this for lunch two days in a row), a plain bagel (though I think this would be fantastic with a seed bagel), a handful of fresh rocket, a large sliced tomato, good quality salami, good quality olive oil and a small wedge of fresh lemon.

Cut the bagel in half and toast it. The moment it comes out of the toaster tear the mozzarella over it so the mozzarella melts slightly onto the bread. Cut the salami rounds into quarters and scatter half of the pieces over the cheese. Then top with the rocket, the sliced tomatoes and the rest of the salami. Season well with freshly ground salt and pepper, squeeze over the lemon and a generous drizzle of olive oil. 

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Obviously the better the quality of your ingredients, the better the taste but if you want to cut down on costs the only two things you can’t really afford to scrimp on are the salami and the olive oil. The salamis you can get in Marks & Spencer are okay if you’re making sandwiches or feeding a crowd, but for something like this you really need to head out to a delicatessen for the very best. This one is dense, meaty and packed with flavour. 

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At the moment I have been using this can of Simply Extra Virgin I picked up in Tescos in my salads, but I have my eye on returning to the deli I got the salami from for some lemon infused extra virgin olive oil, which I think would be fantastic in this recipe, as well as on its own for a dressing. 

Have you made anything different for your lunch recently? 

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