I don't know what the weather is like where you are, but here it is H-O-T, hot! The thought of turning on my gas stove or oven and heating up my entire downstairs is not my idea of a good time. In a perfect world I would simply grill out a lot; however, in my reality a grill has just not managed to fit its way into the budget yet. Luckily we have the next best thing. Armed with my handy dandy electric griddle and a bundle of farm fresh, organic veggies from our weekly CSA basket, I whipped up one of my husband's favorite summer dinners. My favorite part of Grilled Summer Vegsagna is how it's so deliciously light...perfect for Sunday dinner after having a big after church lunch.
Let's get started...
Fresh from the farm veggies: Eggplant, Zucchini, Golden Zucchini, and a huge ripe Tomato
Supporting characters: EVOO, Sea Salt, and Ricotta Cheese...yes, it's whole milk cheese, but if you're going to go cheese, you might as well go all the way :-)
The hardest part...
Slice all the veggies. I know, I know. Grueling, isn't it?
No really, this is the hardest part of the recipe. So as long as you don't slice off any appendages, this dinner should be a breeze for you.
Oil is good for the soul...
Well, maybe not. But it is good at keeping your veggies from sticking and helps give them that golden brown color your looking for. I love my pampered chef oil spritzer. Fill it up with the oil of your choice (EVOO for me), give it a few pumps, and spray your pan/griddle down.
And we're Grillin'
I am usually not a fan of adding salt while cooking, but eggplant is an exception for me. I feel like it just needs a little sprinkling of sea salt to taste just right. I grilled the eggplant and zucchinis on a medium-high setting of 375 degrees, in batches for about 3-5 minutes each side...until they take on that nice golden brown color. As the veggies finish cooking, just set them off to the side on a plate and continue grilling the next batch. I always grill the tomatoes very last.
No need to worry about anything getting cold. This dish isn't supposed to be served hot. Slightly above room temp is your goal.
Get Stacking...
Tonight
I started with a bed of baby spinach. Usually I just stack it up on a
plain plate, but the spinach was a nice touch. I think I'll keep it next
time this is on the menu. The foundation of the Vegsagna stack is the
eggplant, topped with a couple spoon fulls of ricotta. Next I stacked
the zucchini and then another layer of ricotta, followed by the golden zucchini slices. The order of the veggie layers really depends on the size of your individual veggies. You want to stack biggest to smallest.
After the third veggie layer (golden zucchini layer for me), it's really a matter of preference if you do anymore ricotta. Now I LOVE ricotta cheese. I would eat it by the spoonful if the act didn't elicit funny looks from my dear husband... So naturally I spooned a little more cheesy goodness onto my stack. If you've already started seeing double from the amount of cheese on your stack, please feel free to skip this last layer of ricotta and go straight for the tomato :-)
I know I already mentioned that you should grill the tomatoes last, but I mean really last... like I don't touch tomato to griddle until the other veggies are all stacked between gobs of ricotta. Once your stack is almost complete, throw those toe-ma-toes (making sure you pronounce it correctly *wink*) on your piping hot grill for about a minute or two per side. We're not looking to really cook them, but rather getting them a little steamy. Placing that giant, steaming hot, tomato slice on top of the Vegsagna stack really just pulls the whole dish together.
And Voilà!
Grilled Summer Vegsagna
Once again... the name is a working title, but the food is D'lish.
Enjoy!
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