Grilled Zucchini Roll-Ups with Herbs and Cheese

Last Friday I got invited to a friend's house for a nice night of wine and appetizers.  I volunteered to bring a vegetarian dish to ensure that I had food to eat, lol.  The end result was these zucchini roll ups.

Grilled Zucchini Roll-Ups with Herbs and Cheese from The Food You Crave by Ellie Krieger
Serves 4



Ingredients
3 small zucchini, cut lengthwise into 1/4" thick slices
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/8 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
Pinch of freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
1 1/2 ounces fresh goat cheese, preferably reduced-fat
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 ounces baby spinach leaves (2 cups lightly packed)
1/3 cup fresh basil leaves

Directions
Preheat a grill or grill pan over medium heat. Discard the outermost slices of zucchini and brush the rest with the oil on both sides. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Grill until tender, about 4 minutes per side. In a small bowl, combine the goat cheese, parsley, and lemon juice, mashing them together with a fork. Put 1/2 teaspoon of the cheese mixture about 1/2" from the end of a zucchini slice. Top with a few spinach leaves and one small or half of a large basil leaf. Roll up and place seam side down on a platter. Repeat with the rest of the zucchini slices. You can make these up to a day before you are ready to serve and store them in an airtight container in the fridge.

Obviously I used a grill pan.  I love my grill pan because it allows me to have a fresh grilled taste all year-round...not to mention I don't own an actual grill!  These roll ups were a HIT at the party.  They are savory, fresh and healthy. The other benefit to these roll-ups is that they are meant to be served cold.  So if you're running late, they're always ready to go! The toughest part of preparing these roll ups was cutting the zucchini slices. I am not very gifted with the knife. I did have some slices that I had to sacrifice to my tummy ;-) because I'm big on aesthetics, but most of them turned out nice and pretty and were suitable to serve.

5 comments:

  1. Looks delish! I'm going to try making these!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You might want to invest in a mandoline. It may seem like a luxe kitchen item, but as a mostly vegetarian you will be acing a fair amount of slicing, and a mandoline will ensure uniformity, and speed.These look really good. I am a color eater I wonder about adding sundried tomatoes or grilled pepper slivers?

    ReplyDelete
  3. @jhenny53 - Thanks, I've never heard of a mandoline...will be googling it after I write this, lol. I'm not a huge pepper fan, but I know peppers, zucchini and spinach normally go VERY WELL TOGETHER!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Grill pan...did NOT now these existed! Good to know for my nxt shopping trip.

    ReplyDelete