burrata heirloom tomato sandwiches

Since we live in San Francisco and adore wine, we often go on day-trips to Napa and Sonoma Counties for wine tasting. It takes about an hour and a half to get there so these wonderful visits turn into whole day affairs. When we first moved to Northern California we never really planned so we’d end up eating at any old roadside spot when we got hungry. Inevitably we were disappointed. Either the quality of the food wasn’t what we liked or it was too expensive (Napa is no bargain.) Unfortunately, sometimes it was both. Either way, it took a lot of time away from the main purpose of the visit: tasting wine and soaking up the spectacular views of Wine Country. So now we always pack a picnic lunch. That way, we’re never unhappy.

Last Saturday we visited two wineries in Napa: Trefethen and Rutherford Hill. You might recall that we’re members of RH. We had planned this trip for fun but also to pick up the fall club wine shipment. Trefethen we’d visited once before about six or seven years ago. We went there first. It is a beautiful winery well worth seeing. The only drawback is that they do not have a picnic area. In fact they have signs posted around that specifically discourage you from picnicking there. That’s not very friendly!

So we were in a real jam. We had this wonderful lunch to eat and we were starving but we had nowhere to go. Steven asked at Trefethen about nearby picnic areas. The harried guy recommended Monticello winery down the road.

Robert Sinskey, Napa Valley and the Mayacamas Range

That wasn’t on our way, so instead we drove further north on Silverado Trail to Robert Sinskey. They have large picnic grounds surrounded by lovely gardens and are super low-key, especially for Napa. We’d been before with my niece, Juliana. Now that the leaves are changing it is just magnificent. It was really magical seeing the vines with autumnal colors crisscrossing the Napa valley floor and the blue tones of the Maycamas Mountain range in the background. The temperature was balmy for this time of the year, too. It almost felt like early summer or late spring. Thanks for a perfect afternoon, Mother Nature!

Most of the ingredients for these incredibly satisfying sandwiches were store-bought. You could make your own foccacia and basil pesto. Probably, if you were very ambitious, you could even make your own burrata. I was more pressed for time. In the past, I’ve used the pesto that we make for pasta. I did make a quick sundried tomato pesto that I threw together as we walked out the door. (It is a simpler version of another one that I like.) Everything was assembled right at the winery. Yum!!!

These are sandwiches, so you can mix and match to your heart’s content. I made the first round using half of the bread and all the burrata. We were still hungry afterward so had the rest of the bread with the tomato slices, pestos and basil leaves.

burrata heirloom tomato sandwiches

for the sundried tomato pesto:

1 small jar sun dried tomatoes in oil
1 tsp tomato paste
salt
olive oil

Blend everything in a food processor.

for the sandwiches:

1 round asiago cheese covered foccacia bread, or similar soft bread, e.g. muffuletta
2 heirloom tomatoes (red and yellow), sliced
sundried tomato pesto above
basil pesto
1 container of burrata cheese (200gr) cut into thick slices
a few drops balsamic vinegar
a drizzle extra virgin olive oil
fresh basil leaves

Using a serrated knife, cut foccacia bread horizontally and then into sandwich sized portions. Spread basil pesto on one side of the opened bread and sundried tomato pesto on the other side. Line slices of burrata cheese on top of one side. Place basil leaves over cheese. Top with tomato slices, interchanging colors. Drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar over tomato slices. Cover with the other piece of bread and voilá!

assembling burrata heirloom tomato sandwiches at the winery

It would be logical to have this lunch with wine. You’re in Napa, after all. However, we’ve learned the hard way that we need to sober up over lunch so we can have more wine tasting later. We enjoyed our burrata heirloom tomato sandwiches with sparkling water from Germany. Go figure.

grasses swaying in the breeze at Robert Sinskey

you can't beat Napa in Fall