Grilled Vegetable Italian Panini

Grilled vegetables, pesto and cheese are pressed into a mouthwatering vegetarian Italian Panini recipe, made in only 20 minutes!

Six days of not posting a new recipe feels like FOREVER when you’re a food blogger, but don’t worry, I haven’t been slacking over here, I spent most of last week perfecting every square inch of the new WhitneyBond.com! So what do you think?

If you haven’t been to the beautiful new home page, you should check it out!

It features consistently changing featured recipes that I have hand selected out of my personal favorites and fan favorites. Below there, you’ll see the latest recipes from my kitchen, then keep scrolling down for delicious Quick & Easy Recipes, One Pot Meals, Slow Cooker Recipes and Fan Favorites!

I’d love to hear what you think of the new look and layout! Feel free to comment below with your feedback! I made these updates with you in mind, yes YOU! I wanted to make this a place where you can easily find any recipe you’re looking for!

Now about those recipes, let’s talk about this new one! It’s a Vegetarian Italian Panini Sandwich that is perfect for Meatless Monday. It’s filled with grilled veggies, two kinds of cheese and quite possibly the most delicious pesto ever!

After making this Pistachio Kale Pesto with coconut oil, I knew I had found pesto gold! The coconut oil gives it a hint of sweetness and a totally different flavor (in an absolutely amazing way!) than any other pesto I’d ever had.

I knew I had to find other recipes to incorporate it into, so first up is this Italian Panini Recipe!

Ingredients

• ½ eggplant (sliced)
• 2 portobello mushrooms (de-steemed & cleaned)
• ½ loaf ciabatta bread
• 4 ounces goat cheese (you can also use cream cheese, or this vegetable dip)
• ¼ cup pistachio kale pesto (or basil, spinach or sage pesto)
  • 1 cup pistachios
  • 2 cups chopped kale
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ¼ cup coconut oil (melted)
• 4 large basil leaves
• 4 ounces fresh mozzarella (sliced)
• 4 slices roasted red peppers

Heat a grill, or grill pan, over medium heat. (I used an indoor T-fal OptiGrill to grill both the veggies and the panini. Side note: This grill is one of my absolute favorite kitchen tools!)

Grill the eggplant and portobello mushrooms.

Assemble the sandwich by slicing the ciabatta bread in half and through the middle.

Spread the goat cheese on two slices of bread and the pesto* on the other two slices of bread.

*If preparing the pistachio kale pesto for the panini sandwiches, combine the pistachios, kale, garlic and salt in a food processor. Slowly pour in the coconut oil and blend until combined.

Place the basil leaves on the goat cheese and the grilled eggplant on the pesto.

Slice the portobello mushrooms in half and place on top of the basil.

Place the roasted red peppers on the grilled eggplant.

Place the sliced mozzarella over the roasted red peppers.

Sandwich the two sides together and grill in a panini press or an indoor grill, like the T-fal OptiGrill.

Now it’s time to dig into the best dang vegetarian panini sandwich you’ve ever had!

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