I never need an excuse to go to bakery. I might go there to get something for a meal, but I won't leave without a tarte tatin or eclair. In seeking new and different ways to use pesto, I wanted to do something sandwichy. Yes, it's a word! Sandwichy! For this recipe, I bought a crusty loaf of sourdough bread from our local French bakery, and then yellow squash, zucchini, and portabella mushrooms from the grocery store. I had pesto, Parmesan cheese, and an onion on hand. Because roasting is pretty much my default way of preparing vegetables, I thought I'd marinate the veggies in a pesto and olive oil mixture and then throw them in the oven until they got all caramelized and delicious. If you prefer grilling your vegetables, that would work too, of course—I mean, basically the idea is to cook the vegetables before putting them on the sandwich, you know?
These sandwiches are bound to become a weekend staple in our household. Most Saturdays, we swing by the farmers market to pick up fresh veggies and the bakery is on the way home. And on Saturdays, we're usually so busy, the last thing we want to do is spend an hour or two preparing dinner. These sandwiches are easy, fresh, and tasty—does it get any better than that?
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp pesto
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small onion cut into ¼-inch thick rings
- 1 small zucchini sliced lengthwise
- 1 small yellow squash sliced lengthwise
- 1 large portabella mushroom sliced into ¼-inch wide strips
- salt and pepper to taste
- 8 slices sourdough bread
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese shredded
Instructions
- Whisk together pesto and olive oil in a large baking dish. Add vegetables and toss to coat. Let vegetables marinate for 3–4 hours.
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Place vegetables on baking sheet and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 30–35 minutes, or until vegetables are tender and onions are beginning to brown.
- Heat panini grill to medium-high. Top four slices of bread with 2 tablespoons of cheese and then divide roasted veggies evenly among the bread slices. Top each sandwich with another slice of bread and place sandwiches on panini grill. Grill until cheese has melted and bread is crispy, about 10–12 minutes.
looks yummy!
I'm a huge fan of pesto. I put it on regular sandwiches all time at home - totally going to try it with the squash (not a fan of mushrooms)!
This is very close to a sandwich I make and love! I roast the veggies with a bit for olive oil and Parmesan and spread the bread with basil pesto.
What a lovely sandwich. I wish I had a wonderful bakery nearby. When you have a delicious bread, you don't need much more to call it a meal! I end up making my own bread when I want a nice one, but it sure would be nice to have a nice bakery to buy some from.
Wow this sounds good! You need to start a vegetarian cookbook!
That looks SO good, but how can you hate mayo!?!?
THIS might even tempt my onmivores! it looks wonderful!
Thank you! You can't go wrong with roasted veggies. 🙂
What kind of pesto do you use? All the pesto I know contain parmesan which is not veggie friendly...
I usually make my own pesto, but sometimes I use store-bought. Any kind will work. I live in the US and there is vegetarian Parmesan here. The law that says Parmesan needs to be made with animal rennet only applies in the EU.
I tried it for the first time and loved it.