Grilled vegetable stacks

Photographer: Emma
Serves 4 as a side

Fresh vegetables are one of my favourite foods and I often get a bit over excited at the supermarket, coming home with an abundance of vegetables that in reality are way too much for two people to eat in a week! Nevertheless I generally manage to munch my way through the majority of them using recipes like this Vegetable Stack.

This recipe allows you to be a bit creative with your vegetables. Instead of vegetables being viewed as a mere necessity that must be included at every meal, this recipe makes them not only the main feature of your dish but a delicious feature.
What I love about this recipe is that you can chuck in any vegetables you have, there are no strict rules about what you have to include and about how much. As long as you have a few different vegetables you are sorted. Layering the vegetables with the parsley pesto and havarti is what makes this vegetable dish extra special. Of course the parsley pesto and the cheese can be swapped out with any type of pesto or cheese, I just like the freshness of the parsley and the creaminess of the havarti. So inject some excitement and flavour back into your vegetables and give this recipe a go!

INGREDIENTS

Vegetables
1 eggplant
2 capsicums
2 courgettes
2 red onions
Olive oil
Salt and pepper


4 thick slices of havarti cheese

Parsley pesto (makes more than needed for this recipe):
2 (packed) cups parsley, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
100g walnuts
2 tbsp parmesan, grated
Olive oil to combine
Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD

Vegetables
1. Cut the vegetables in approximately 1cm slices.
2. Brush the vegetables in olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3. Grill the vegetables (in batches) on a hot BBQ or in a griddle pan. Don’t overcook the vegetables; they should still be a little firm.
4. Once cooked, transfer the vegetables to a platter.

Pesto
5. In a food processor combine the parsley, garlic, walnuts and parmesan and pulse, slowly adding olive oil until the mixture becomes a paste. You can either keep it chunky or pulse longer for a smooth paste. Season with salt and pepper.

To assemble
6. Preheat your oven to 180ºC on Fan Bake.
7. Layer the vegetables in any order you like.
8. In the middle of the stack, add a dollop of the pesto and lay the havarti slice.
9. Bake the stacks for 10 minutes, just to heat through the vegetables and melt the cheese.
Serve the stacks either on their own or with lean meat.