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Pressed Eggplant and Pepper Sandwich Recipe

Pressed Eggplant and Pepper Sandwich
Difficulty: Easy | Total Time: | Makes: 6 servings

Trying to keep picnic grub from being crushed is always the trickiest part of packing the basket. Luckily, the more this sandwich is pressed, the better it tastes. So go ahead and pile everything on top—the weight from the soda and the brownies will help the vinaigrette soak through the layers of grilled vegetables and cheese, and the crunchy toasted bread will keep the outside from getting soggy.

Game plan: If you have a large grill, you can cook all the vegetables at once to cut down on time. Or make things even simpler by using store-bought roasted peppers.

This recipe was featured as part of both our Summer Ingredients and our Picnic Recipes photo galleries.

INGREDIENTS
  • 1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for oiling the grill
  • 5 teaspoons red wine vinegar
  • 2 medium garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons packed, finely grated orange zest
  • 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • 3 medium bell peppers, ends trimmed, seeds and stems removed, and quartered
  • 2 medium globe eggplants, sliced crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick pieces
  • 4 ounces chèvre (goat cheese), crumbled
  • 1 loaf ciabatta, sliced in half horizontally and lightly toasted
  • 3 cups baby spinach
INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Place the orange juice, measured oil, vinegar, garlic, salt, orange zest, and red pepper flakes in a large, nonreactive bowl and whisk to combine. Add the bell peppers and eggplant and toss to coat. Let sit at room temperature while the grill heats, at least 5 minutes.
  2. Heat a gas or charcoal grill to medium (about 350°F to 450°F) or a grill pan over high heat and rub the grill or grill pan with a towel dipped in olive oil. Remove the eggplant from the marinade and place on the grill; cook until soft and lightly charred on one side, about 5 minutes. Flip and cook until charred and soft on the other side, about 5 minutes more. Remove to a plate and set aside. Place the peppers on the grill and cook until soft and lightly charred on one side, about 5 minutes. Flip and cook until charred and soft on the other side, about 5 minutes more. Remove to the plate with the eggplant and set aside.
  3. Place the crumbled cheese on the bottom piece of bread, then evenly distribute the spinach over the cheese. Drizzle the marinade over the spinach, then layer the grilled vegetables over the spinach. Close the sandwich and wrap in aluminum foil. Place on a flat surface, cover with a baking sheet, and place heavy cans or a cast iron skillet on top of the baking sheet to press the sandwich down. Flip the sandwich after 10 minutes and press it down for another 10 minutes. Then unwrap, slice, and serve.
    Write a review | 6 Reviews
  • Pressed Eggplant and Pepper Sandwich Recipe
    5

    These were SO good! And super easy to make. My steak eating husband even said he'd go vegetarian if all the food tasted that good!

  • Pressed Eggplant and Pepper Sandwich Recipe
    5

    Love it! Though it is a bit sloppy to eat sitting at my desk at work. I pretty much followed the recipe to the letter, except I cut back some on the spinach amount. Also, I forgot to toast the ciabatta...whoops! Though 2 days later I am still munching on the sandwich and it isn't soggy yet!

  • I made this tonight, because I've been SALIVATING since I read the recipe. I didn't use ciabatta bread; didn't make time to bake any. I used a big, fluffy Walmart French loaf with onions and poppy seeds on it. I also couldn't WAIT for the darn thing to press, as directed, so I placed the toasted loaf, dressed with the sandwich ingredients, between a cutting board and a cooling rack...under 20 pounds of flour.

    As an aside, I made a black bean/garbanzo salad, with a dressing made of red raspberry vinegar, fresh basil and oregano, fresh cracked black pepper, sea salt, chopped walnuts and walnut oil. All in the name of adding protein (and more texture) to a vegetarian plate. It was SUPERB. Kudos to the chef that developed the sandwich!

  • Yum! I'm going to add some of this nice spicy capicola I bought over the weekend!

  • I, too, made this yesterday -- delish! But I also tweaked it:

    - too lazy to use orange juice + zest, I simply upped the vinegar (balsamic was all I had), and balanced it out with more olive oil as well,
    - didn't have red pepper flakes so I sprinkled some cayenne into the marinade,
    - used arugula instead of spinach,
    - not talented at "drizzling" from a big bowl, I just took the top piece of bread and soaked it facedown in the leftover marinade before placing it atop the rest of the finished sandwich

    To my relief, the lack of orange didn't make it taste bad or unbalanced at all, and smashing it flat truly makes a difference in melding all the flavors together. I made four sandwiches from a single large loaf of sourdough ciabatta and today heated one up in the toaster oven -- the foil wrapping really makes it handy.

  • I made some of these last night and they were amazing. I can't wait to eat them for lunch again today. I played a little with the recipe though, of course:

    Used gluten-free flatbread (just put it on the skillet)
    added some pancetta to some of them.
    added fresh tomatoes to others.
    Goat cheese sounds awesome, but I was out and didn't want to run to the store so I used mozzerella and provolone...very good.

    I have no complaints whatsoever about this combo on a sandwich/wrap. Awesome.

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