Grilled Vegetable Panini

By á-170456

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 small Japanese eggplants or 1 medium to large
• regular eggplant cut crosswise
• into 1/2"-thk slices
• 2 zucchini cut crosswise
• into 1/2"-thk slices
• 1 small red onion cut 1/2"-thk slices
• Salt to taste
• Freshly-ground black pepper to taste
• 2 baguettes - (each abt 2 feet long)
• 1/2 cup Basil Pesto (see recipe)
• 8 ounces fresh water-packed mozzarella cheese drained, sliced
• 2 tomatoes sliced
• 1/2 cup roasted red peppers
• 8 large basil leaves optional

Details

Servings 12

Preparation

Step 1

Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Drizzle the oil over the eggplant, zucchini, and onion slices, then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Working in batches, grill the eggplant, zucchini, and onions until they are tender and grill marks appear, about 4 minutes per side. Cool completely.

Cut each baguette into 6 pieces. Working with one baguette piece at a time, slice in half and spread both sides with the pesto. Working with the bottom slice of the baguette, stack 2 slices of eggplant, 2 slices zucchini, 1 slice onion, 1 slice tomato, 1 slice mozzarella, and 1 slice of roasted pepper. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place top half of baguette on top and continue with remaining baguette. (The sandwiches can be made 4 hours ahead. Wrap well with plastic wrap and refrigerate.)

This recipe yields 12 servings.