Our photographer Jessica Prescott (@jess___photo) and Elise have worked on many food projects together, it only makes sense to kick off our Sandwich Club series with this powerhouse of a human.

Their first stop was the Preston markets for fresh ingredients, before popping home to peruse Elise's cookbook collection and whip up this delicious red pesto, ricotta and salami sandwich. 

For the pesto, you'll need:

2-3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

20 g pecorino

1 clove of garlic

160 g roasted cashews

100g sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained

2 teaspoons sherry vinegar 

salt to taste

To make the pesto, place everything in a high-powered food processor and pulse until smooth. Season, and adjust as necessary. Store in an airtight container, in the fridge, until ready to use.

For the sandwich, you'll need:

1 soft bread roll (Elise used a ciabatta)

2-3 tablespoons pesto

100g fresh ricotta

1 heirloom tomato, cut into thick slices and seasoned

a few fresh basil leaved

1-2 radicchio leaves, torn 

extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling

A few slices of spiced cacciatore

When it is time to build your sandwich, first, assemble you ingredients, then build. Layering is important. Direct contact between bread, pesto and ricotta creates harmony; pesto soaks into the bread and flavours the ricotta from this position. Seasoned slices of tomato steaks must be neighbours with the herby counterpart, in this instance some end of summer basil. This gets topped with bitter radicchio because an abundance of veg is always a good think, as is nailing as many flavour notes your sandwich can take!

The opposing slice of bread gets drizzled with extra virgin oil before thin slices of spiced cacciatore are smooshed into the soft bread (as though you're studding a focaccia pre-bake). Once sandwiched together, you have a filling lunch, made with love.