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The day three recipe in our Zucchini Week “squash-a-ganza” is Caprese Stacks with Grilled Zucchini. This is a recipe that has a lot going for it!
To begin with, it incorporates two favorite vegetables that are coming on hard and fast in late summer – zucchini and tomatoes. But there’s a lot more to love about my Caprese Stacks with Grilled Zucchini. This recipe is healthy, with lots of vitamin-rich veggies. It’s also absolutely gorgeous!
I served these at an impromptu patio dinner last night and invited our friends Paul and Sandy. Sandy’s blog, The Relunctant Entertainer, is a very popular food blog. So when she pulled out her camera the second she arrived and started snapping pix of my pretty Caprese Stacks with Grilled Zucchini, I took it as a compliment. If there’s anybody who knows a good-looking recipe, it’s Sandy. Yes, these little beauties are pretty darned photogenic. But beauty only goes skin deep. A dish can look good but if it doesn’t taste just as good, then what’s the point?
A Gorgeous Grilled Zucchini Recipe
Fortunately, these Caprese Stacks with Grilled Zucchini earn high marks for looks and taste. And really, how could they not? What’s not to love about a sun-kissed, ripened on the vine tomato combined with garden-fresh basil and creamy buffalo mozzarella cheese, all drizzled with a tangy-sweet balsamic vinaigrette? Nothing! There’s a reason that caprese salads are such an enduring summertime staple. They’re simply delicious!
My caprese stacks kick the whole experience up a notch with the addition of beautiful ribbons of zucchini, marinated and grilled until they’re tender and bursting with flavor. Such a wonderful way to bring in even more sumptuous summertime flavor to a classic recipe.
But the thing I love best about my Caprese Stacks with Grilled Zucchini is the fact that they are so, so easy to make!
One of the Easiest Recipes – Perfect for a Laidback BBQ
The most complicated cooking technique you’ll have to do in this recipe is slicing. Which is my way of saying it isn’t complicated at all. Slice the tomatoes, cheese, and zucchini and you’re halfway home. I do recommend slicing the zucchini on a mandoline or V-slicer. You want long, even strips of zucchini for this recipe. Using a V-slicer makes that, and so many slicing jobs, really easy. I’ve had mine for over 20 years. It’s one of my very favorite kitchen tools.
The only real cooking involved here is grilling the zucchini. If you grill yours outside, you won’t have to heat up the kitchen at all, which is awfully nice when the temperatures are flirting with triple digits, as ours have been lately. If you’re lucky enough to have a resident grill master in your house, maybe you can even get somebody else to cook the zucchini slices for you?
Then all you’ll have to do is slice your veggies and cheese, thread everything onto skewers, drizzle the vinaigrette over the top, and stand back and take the compliments. And isn’t that every chef’s favorite kind of cooking? Yes!
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Caprese Stacks with Grilled Zucchini
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 1 medium to large red tomato, cut into four slices
- 2 medium to large yellow tomatoes, cut into four slices, 8 total
- 12 leaves fresh basil
- 1 medium zucchini squash, sliced lengthwise, ¼ inch thick
- 2 balls fresh buffalo mozzarella cheese, each cut into 6 slices, 12 total
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
- ¼ tsp. Kosher salt
- Pepper
Instructions
- Mix olive oil, vinegar, salt, and a few grinds of fresh pepper together in a shallow casserole one pie plate.
- Place zucchini ribbons in oil and vinegar, turn each slice to coat on both sides. Marinade zucchini for 30 minutes.
- Remove zucchini from pan, reserving marinade. Cook zucchini slices on hot grill, about 2-3 minutes per side. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
- Thread tomatoes, zucchini, basil, and cheese onto a skewer, alternating ingredients to highlight the different colors and flavors. When skewering zucchini, fold it back and forth a few times to create a ribbon pattern.
- Drizzle reserved marinade over stacks. Sprinkle with a little more salt and a few more grinds of pepper. Serve.
