I planted a second round of tomatoes in the garden last week. And while I was at it, I went ahead and stuck a new zucchini plant in.
Because this is the first year I haven’t wanted to wretch at the mere sound of “zucchini” before the 4th of July. I seriously cannot get enough of it. And I haven’t even made zucchini bread, the sure sign that Zucchini Fatigue has set in, once.
(Muffins are a different story. For next week.)
But this dish. Pure zucchini amazingness. I took my favorite summer side dish (that has already gotten the sandwich treatment plenty this summer) and gave it the Annie’s Eats sandwich treatment: served on some crusty ciabatta with a beautifully simple and creamy herbed ricotta.
I made my own ricotta. You don’t have to. But I highly recommend it. Because it takes like 20 minutes, a candy thermometer, and some $3 cheesecloth.
And your 4 year old will look at you with complete wide-eyed amazement because she just helped you make cheese. “Real cheese but it’s cheese that we eat with a spoon.” (And eat with a spoon she will until you take it away.)
Grilled Zucchini and Herbed Ricotta Sandwiches
Creamy herbed ricotta and grilled vegetables served on crusty, grilled ciabatta bread.
Ingredients
- 1 lb zucchini, sliced into 1/3-inch rounds
- 1 red onion, sliced into 1/2-inch rounds
- 1/4 cup olive oil + more for spraying/brushing
- Salt
- Pepper
- 1 1/2 cup ricotta
- Zest and juice from 1 lemon
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 3-4 large basil leaves, minced
- 1 lb loaf of ciabatta
Instructions
- Heat grill to medium.
- Carefully thread the onion rounds onto skewers (this will keep them in tact as rounds while grilling), making sure the skewer goes through every onion ring.
- Brush onions and zucchini rounds with 1/4 cup olive oil and season liberally with salt and pepper.
- Grill vegetables 9-10 minutes each side, until nicely caramelized.
- Cut the ciabatta loaf in half horizontally and lightly spray/brush with olive oil - transfer to the grill for 1-2 minutes until crisped.
- Stir the ricotta with the lemon juice and zest, garlic, and basil leaves in a small bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Spread ricotta over the bottom half and top with zucchini and red onion slices.
- Spread any remaining ricotta on the top half of the bread, place on top, and then cut into serving sizes (smaller for appetizer; larger for entree).
Notes
Yields: Servings vary
Estimated time: 30 minutes
Oh this sounds delightful. I’m thinking a splash of balsamic on the top of the veggies wouldn’t go amiss either. 🙂
The combo of ricotta and the zucchini sounds amazing!
This is very delicious snack!
wow these look awesome! definitely going to be making this recipe for my vegetarian household.. yum!
Love this combination, can just imagine the creamy ricotta with the soft grilled veg – gorgeous!
This is probably my favorite veggie treatment of all time. Grilled veggies + ricotta + bread and life is good.
It all looks wonderful!