Marinated Grilled Vegetable Sandwich with Pesto and Mozzarella

I love to grill. Vegetables. Yes, there it is. Not gourmet but so delicious! One of my favorite sandwiches is super easy and very customizable as you can see from comments on Inspiring Kitchen’s Facebook page. (https://www.facebook.com/inspiringkitchen). What works so well with this dish is being able to have friends over and everyone gets to make their own personalized sandwich varying with the choice of filling. What I will typically do is have a platter of all different kinds of vegetables (colored peppers, onions, zucchini, squash, eggplant, tomatoes, fennel,  etc), sauces, spreads (salsa, pesto, sun dried garlic paste – yum!), cheeses and even meat for those who want it. And the creativity begins!

You can use an indoor grill pan that is either non stick or cast iron. Brands like All-Clad make a non-stick version while Le Creuset and Lodge have traditional cast iron grill pans. Cast iron is really good for maintaining a steady temperature for long periods of time while non-stick, as most people know, offers a very easy clean up. The cast iron pieces can even be used on your outdoor grills. They are “that” durable! Pricing for each piece respectively as of today’s date are approximately $80 for All-Clad: All-Clad 3011 Hard Anodized Dishwasher Safe 11-Inch Sqaure Grille Cookware, Black, $150 for Le Creuset: Le Creuset Enameled Cast-Iron 10-1/4-Inch Square Skillet Grill, Marseilleand $30 for Lodge: Lodge L8SGP3 Pre-Seasoned Cast-Iron Square Grill Pan, 10.5-inch. All three lines of grilling cookware can be found at your local retailers and online at Amazon, Chef’s Catalog, and more.

 

 

 

Back to the recipe.

For my vegetable sandwich today, I work with what I have in the fridge. It’s a great way to make use of the half of zucchini and onion you have left from last night’s dinner. In my sandwich, I had:

3 small sweet peppers — yellow, orange and red, sliced

1/2 small Vidalia onion, sliced

1/2 small zucchini, sliced in strips

1-2 tbls pesto, homemade or store bought — I had homemade as all the rains here are making my basil plants grow super fast.

Lemon juice — just a splash

Mozzarella cheese — either 2 slices, 1/4c shredded or a few slices of fresh, or Vegan cheese

2 slices of sourdough

Olive oil

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I like to marinate the vegetables for about 10 minutes to an hour depending on my time. The marinade is just enough olive oil to coat the vegetables (1 tablespoon) with a splash of lemon juice. You can add salt and pepper here if you want.

Then, grill the vegetables in either a grill pan or on the grill, whatever is available to you.

Once the vegetables are done, take them off the heat and brush two slices of sourdough with olive oil on both sides. Put bread on grill just until you see a golden brown color.

Spread pesto on the top and bottom of the bread, add the grilled veggies and top with mozzarella cheese.

Put the top piece of bread on your creation and press down lightly to seal the sandwich. Take pan off burner (or off grill) Let the cheese melt for a few minutes.

And that’s it! So easy and delicious. All the colors of the vegetables make such a nice presentation on the plate.

 

If this description made you hungry, take a look at the finished product:

 

 

Hope you enjoy this recipe. If you decide to make your own creation, let me know what ingredients you use. Send a picture too! Here’s how you can reach me:

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