Mozzarella Arugula Pumpkin Seed Bruschetta Recipe

What one word, when spoken as the summer heat starts to fade, immediately reminds you that Fall is coming? Pumpkin, of course. From lattes to microbrews, when the pumpkin is upon us, Fall has arrived.

Pumpkin Seed Oil, however, is a new one for me. Nutty in flavor, rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, pumpkin oil is big on flavor and health. Why had no Fall season before informed me of this product?!

When Emile Noel offered to send me one of their non-GMO, organic, fair trade bottles of oil, I chose PSO because I had never seen it on shelves before! (Recently, I saw it at Trader Joe's, however, during the great pumpkin wave.)

Then I went to the farmer's market and the bread guy had loaves of Gilroy garlic bread. My favorite greens purveyor had beautiful arugula. My fridge had some leftover fresh mozzarella from a pizza we made the night before. A recent health kick provided some pumpkin seeds tucked away in my pantry.

This, my dear friends, is the result.

Mozzarella Arugula Pumpkin Seed Bruschetta

Ingredients:

8 slices of garlic sourdough

1/4 cup of olive oil

2 cups of arugula

8 slices of fresh mozarella

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

2 tablespoons pumpkin seed oil

2 tablespoons of honey

1/2 tablespoon of mustard

3 tablespoons pumpkin seeds 

Look at that garlicky goodness.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat a grill pan on high heat. Slice garlic sourdough in roughly the same size as the mozzarella slice. Brush each side with olive oil. When the pan is hot, place as many slices as will fit onto the grill pan. When desired darkness of grill marks is reached, about 3-5 minutes each side depending on the heat of the pan, flip each slice over and repeat. Continue until all the slices have pretty grill marks on each side. 

Grill marks for days.

2. Place all slices of garlic sourdough on a cookie sheet or baking pan. Layer mozzarella slices on each of the bread slices. When oven reaches 350 degrees, place the cookie sheet in the oven. Leave in the oven for 10 minutes or until the mozzarella is slightly melted but not bubbling. 

3. While the mozzarella is melthing, whisk together the white wine vinegar, pumpkin seed oil, honey and mustard into a dressing. Throughly coat the arugula in the dressing. Top the melted mozzarella slices with the dressed arugula. 

4. Garnish the top of the toast with pumpkin seeds. Serve immediately.