Grilled Veggie Sandwich



Please excuse the uneven knife work on that tomato- not sure what happened there!

As you may have gathered by now, I'm in love with my new grill pan. I also love a good sandwich. My family used to go to Rehoboth Beach most summers and there was a little sandwich shop that had the best roasted veggie sandwich. It was a tradition to eat there each visit (or...multiple times each visit!) and I figured it was time to recreate the deliciousness. As a side note, the name of this recipe is deceiving because only one item is grilled, but that is besides the point. If you choose to roast the eggplant instead it would be just as good.

Grilled Veggie Sandwich

• 1 Eggplant
• 1 Red pepper
• 1 Tomato
• 1 Mozzarella ball
• Mixed lettuce greens
• 1 Loaf of good bread, I used ciabatta
• Olive oil
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Mayonnaise (optional)
• 1 Clove Garlic
• Salt & freshly ground pepper

I started by roasting the red pepper. I've always bought jarred roasted red peppers which works fine, but roasting it yourself is easy and really takes it to a new level. Sadly and strangely, I don't have a pair of metal tongs (I'm already planning a trip to the closest Sur La Table) so I had a really awkward technique for roasting the pepper. I stabbed the bottom of the pepper with a large steak knife as I roasted it over the open flame on my stove top- but surely I would recommend using metal tongs if you have them! If you have an electric stove top then you can use your oven broiler to roast the pepper.

Brush the pepper lightly with olive oil. Hold the pepper over the flame and slowly rotate the pepper until it is blackened evenly all over. Try not to catch the stem on fire!

Once it's blackened, put it in a bowl and cover with a lid or saran wrap and let it steam while you prepare everything else.



Next I cut the eggplant evenly into about 1/3 inch thick slices.

Use a brush to lightly coat each side of the eggplant with olive oil and add salt and pepper.

Cook the eggplant on the grill pan once the pan is hot. Cook for about 3 minutes on each side, depending on how hot the pan is and how thick your slices are. You just want to be sure the eggplant is nicely cooked through.

Set the eggplant aside once cooked.

Slice your tomato and mozzarella into thin, even slices and set aside.

Now let's get back to that roasted red pepper- by now it should be cool enough to handle and you should be able to very easily peel off all of the charred skin. Cut the pepper into thick slices, drizzle with olive oil and add salt and pepper.

Toast your ciabatta bread and rub a peeled garlic glove that you've cut in half over both sides of the bread. Spread a thin layer of mayonnaise on one side, and add a tablespoon or two of balsamic vinegar to the other side of the bread. If your bread isn't thick enough to soak up the vinegar then you can just pour it over the sandwich once assembled. I assembled the sandwich with the eggplant on the bottom, then roasted red pepper, tomato, salt and pepper, mozzarella and topped with lettuce.

After enjoying this tasty sandwich for two meals in a row, I decided to make a naked sandwich aka salad one night when I just had a few minutes to eat before running out the door. I threw the leftover lettuce on a plate, sprayed with some balsamic vinegar, then just layered slices of the veggies and mozzarella on top, sprinkled with salt and pepper and it was fantastic!