Friday, September 4, 2015

Grilling an Easy and Memorable Lunch

Grilled Cheese, Basil, Tomato, and Zucchini Sandwich
A bunch of us are getting together this weekend for a celebratory lunch on the shore to celebrate a friends milestone birthday. (I'm secretly mourning the end of summer when I say so long to some of my favorite foods like tomatoes, garden fresh basil and zucchini -- although  it's not officially the end of summer, thankfully!) It's a poolside pot luck party and I'm thrilled to be sharing one of my favorite grill-worthy sandwiches - so perfect for a summer send-off. The basil, tomatoes, and zucchini are coming from the hosts garden, just a stones throw from the grill -- can't get much fresher than that! The bread is coming from the town bakery. Grass fed butter and my favorite melting cheese -- Herve Mons Gabietou from Whole Foods will round out this memorable sandwich. A friend is bringing a cucumber, cantaloupe and mint salad with lemon dressing -- the salad should be the perfect complement for the sandwich!

The sandwiches are super simple to assemble. Once you've grilled the zucchini until tender, generously slather Italian bread slices -- or your favorite holey bread with butter. Top one slice of the bread with disks of yellow-orange or red tomatoes and basil leaves. Top the basil with grilled zucchini and then generous slabs of cheese. Grill the sandwiches until they are chestnut brown and crispy on each side. For extra decadence, I love to sprinkle the crispy bread with Himalayan sea salt. Huzzah!