eclaire (what's in a) name?

let me guess, your garden or your friends’ gardens are absolutely exploding with vegetables right now, huh? have you thought about grilling them?

the latest bag of produce we were gifted contained roma tomatoes, zucchini, and eggplant (thanks, dad!). we used a bunch of the tomatoes in the tomato pie i mentioned here, but were left with so many other veggies that we had to come up with something, and quick, before they spoiled.

i’ve been itching to use my new grill pan again, so mike and i decided to complement what we already had with francese bread from a local bakery, fresh basil, and some fresh mozzarella to create a new recipe.

although we created this recipe, i feel like i’m cheating a bit because it was so simple to make! the veggies were so great on their own that with a few splashes of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and salt, they basically made themselves. but these sandwiches were too good not to share, so here it is, my second harvest time suggestion:

grilled vegetable sandwiches

yields 4 sandwiches

• 1 large or 2 small eggplants
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 medium (in our case we used part of a large) zucchini
• 2T balsamic vinegar
• 2T olive oil
• 2 roma tomatoes
• 8 oz fresh mozzarella
• 8 fresh basil leaves
• 1 loaf francese bread
• 2T mayonnaise
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• salt and pepper to taste
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1. heat a grill pan on the stove or your outdoor grill
2. thinly slice the eggplant(s), then lay them on a plate and sprinkle salt over them. allow them to sweat for 5 minutes, then flip and salt the other side, allowing them to rest for 5 more minutes.
3. meanwhile, slice the red bell pepper and zucchini, and place them on the grill
4. brush the top side of the zucc and bells with some balsamic vinegar, then with olive oil
5. allow each veggie to grill for about 4 minutes per side, then flip, allowing to cook twice on both sides (this will yield the nice cross-hatch grill marks)
6. rinse the eggplant, then pat it dry and follow the same procedure above for grilling them
7. as the other veggies are grilling, slice the roma tomatoes and mozarella, and rinse the basil leaves
8. cut the loaf of bread into four pieces, then slice each one down the middle to make a sandwich sized bun. toast bread if desired.
9. mix the mayo with the clove of garlic and spread onto each piece of bread
10. pile the bread with zucchini, red bells, eggplant, a little salt and pepper, mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil, then top with second slice and enjoy!