Grilled Portabella, Eggplant and Goat Cheese Sandwich

Posted on Jan 18, 2010 by PeggyPrint Recipe Only | Email Recipe | Leave a Comment
Filed under: All Recipes, Peggy's Healthy Picks, Sandwiches & burgers, Vegetarian Pin It
Grilled Portabella, Eggplant, and Goat Cheese Sandwich

Detox Resolution Recipe Series: Using whole grains, vegetables, lean meats and healthier fats in recipes you may find taste really good!

One of the great vegetarian flavor profiles, to my palate, is the combination of eggplant, portabella mushrooms, goat cheese and fresh basil. This combo is delicious stacked in a timbale, decorating a pizza, served up in layers of buttery phyllo, or tossed in a salad. Tonight I’m using the trio for exceptionally delicious, and exceptionally easy, grilled sandwiches.

Eggplant has an affinity to strong flavors such as goat cheese and portabella. I never salt or peel the sweet and tender Asian eggplant varieties but generally salt black globe eggplant slices. Unless they are fresh off the vine, they can be bitter. Salting helps draw out some of that bitterness and excess water.

A panini press has been a hot item on my “kitchen wish list” for a while. I’m still without. In past dinnerFeeds I’ve used weights to make a yummy grilled Mozzerella and Tomato Sandwich with Pesto Mayonnaise. Tonight I dusted off the old George Foreman. I grilled my sandwiches 15 minutes at 350˚ and they were crispy and crusty.

I showed a great deal of restraint in not using butter to grill my sandwiches. If you decide to use butter, so much the sweeter! Sweet roasted peppers would be a great substitute for one of the vegetables; sour dough would also be a marvelous bread.

Recipe: Grilled Portabella, Eggplant, and Goat Cheese Sandwich

Ingredients

  • 1 medium sized globe eggplant (3 1/2-inch width)*
  • 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  • 5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 4 portabello mushrooms, woody stems removed and wiped clean
  • 4 ounces goat cheese, softened
  • 3 tablespoons fresh chopped basil
  • 8 slices whole grain artisan bread

Instructions

  1. With a vegetable peeler, shave most of the skin from the eggplant. Cut into 1/2-inch slices. Place slices on paper towel or clean cloth and lightly sprinkle with kosher salt. Let sit 30-60 minutes .
  2. Preheat oven to 375˚.
  3. Make a vinaigrette by whisking balsamic vinegar into 4 tablespoons olive oil. Stir in garlic and brush vinaigrette over drained eggplant slices and portobella caps.
  4. On a foil-lined baking sheet, roast vegetables on middle rack of oven 10 minutes per side, or until just tender.
  5. Combine softened goat cheese and basil and spread over one side of each piece of bread. Wipe excess moisture from roasted portabellos, if necessary, and place 1 portobello on 4 slices; divide the remaining eggplant over remaining bread. Make 4 sandwiches by combining a portabella topped bread with an eggplant topped bread.
  6. Heat remaining tablespoon olive oil in a large non-stick pan, panini press or forman grill. Grill sandwiches on each side until crispy.

*Thin, tender and sweet Asian eggplants may be substituted though you will need more slices to fill the sandwich. You do not need to salt and peel these eggplant and they may take less time to roast.

Time: 35 minutes

Number of servings (yield): 4 sandwiches

Copyright © Peggy Lampman’s dinnerFeed.

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Filed under: All Recipes, Peggy's Healthy Picks, Sandwiches & burgers, Vegetarian
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