Ciabatta Sandwich of Grilled Vegetables with Pesto and Mozzarella--A Summer Sammie to Savor

This is one delicious summer sandwich--chock full of grilled veggies, homemade pesto and fresh mozzarella. We are celebrating Fun in the Sun this week at I Heart Cooking Clubs, focusing on those recipes perfect for hot weather and the outdoors, and Jamie Oliver's Ciabatta Sandwich of Grilled Vegetables with Pesto and Mozzarella certainly fits the bill.

For my sandwich, I grilled up veggies I had on hand--local asparagus, zucchini and yellow squash, some sweet Maui Onions and an organic red pepper. Jamie does have a pesto recipe you can use but I had leftovers of my Pistachio-Basil Pesto so I used that. Served with the fresh mozzarella on a bakery ciabatta sandwich roll, it made an excellent picnic lunch.

This "recipe" (more of a description than actual recipe) is from "Jamie's Dinners" page 80-81.

Ciabatta Sandwich of Grilled Vegetables with Pesto and Mozzarella
"Jamie's Dinners" by Jamie Oliver

"This sandwich is good for using up grilled veg like asparagus, zucchini and eggplants - wonderful just griddled on a griddle pan and dressed with some good olive oil, salt, freshly ground black pepper and fresh herbs. I keep any leftovers, stuff them into a chunk of ciabatta smeared with 1 tablespoon of pesto and add a little torn-up mozzarella. You could also add some grated Parmesan. Slices of prosciutto or grilled chicken pieces go really well too.

Wrap your sandwich up tightly in wax paper and aluminum foil before putting it in your lunchbox. Usually some juices come out of the mozzarella, so give the sandwich a good press down when you’ve finished making it to let the bread soak up the moisture and actually become more tasty because of it. When I eat this sandwich, I peel off the paper and foil from one side and then keep peeling back as I eat. This way I don’t get juice all over myself!"


Notes/Results: This is a pretty perfect sandwich that would satisfy both vegetarians and carnivores. The combination of veggies works well with the pesto and soft cheese. (It would also be excellent with goat cheese.) I made my grilled onion, zucchini and yellow squash slices really thin for better layering, left my red peppers and asparagus chunky and toasted my sandwich rolls on the grill. As Jamie says, this is a great use for leftover grilled veggies--but it is also well worth grilling up some just for this sandwich. Find a sunny or shady spot and enjoy this outdoors with plenty of napkins, served with a cold beer, glass of chilled white wine or if you are not imbibing, a big glass of icy lemonade. I will happily make this sandwich again.

You can check out how the other IHCC participants enjoyed their Fun in the Sun with Jamie by going to the post here and following the links.