Grilled Artichoke Pesto Zucchini Bites
Zucchini ribbons are grilled and rolled with a delicious artichoke pesto for a creative and delicious summer appetizer!
It’s easy to get creative with cookies, cakes, and other baked goodies, isn’t it?
Take a chocolate cake for instance.
It can be layered with vanilla buttercream, chocolate buttercream, lemon filling, raspberry filling, peanut butter frosting, whipped meringue, chocolate ganache, and on and on.
But how about getting creative with healthy things?
It’s so easy to get in a rut with vegetables.
You pick up a zucchini and you stare…what do I do with this?
Because chances are, you’ve already sauteed it, steamed it, and grilled it.
These preparations get old.
Let’s do something a little more fun with zucchini today.
Toss some artichoke hearts, a handful of fresh parsley, walnuts, lemon zest and juice, and garlic into a food processor:
Pulse, pulse, pulse.
Stream in some olive oil, and stir in parmigiano reggiano, and you’ll end up with a bowl of this:
Grill up some thin slices of zucchini, and spread each zucchini ribbon with a spoonful of the artichoke pesto:
Roll it up, nice and tight:
And that’s it! Ready to serve. Easy peasy and a totally delicious celebration of summer veggies.
Also check out my Ultimate Guide to Zucchini! It covers how to store zucchini, how to pick a good one at the grocery, and 60+ recipe ideas using zucchini.
Grilled Artichoke Pesto Zucchini Bites
Ingredients
- 2 lbs zucchini about 2-3 large zucchini
- 9 oz package frozen artichoke hearts thawed and squeezed of excess water
- zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 cloves garlic roughly chopped
- the leaves of half a bunch of parsley about a cup
- 1/4 cup walnuts
- pinch of salt and pepper
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 oz parmigiano reggiano grated (about 1/2 cup)
Instructions
- Cut the stem off the zucchinis, then use a mandolin to slice them into long thin ribbons. They should be about 1/8 inch thick, if they’re too thin they won’t stand up on the own, but if they’re too thick, they won’t be flexible enough to roll. Give each one a little sprinkle on both sides with salt and pepper.
- Heat the grill to high, and do a quick sear of the zucchini. Since they are really thin, they should only be on the grill for about 30-60 seconds, just enough to take the raw edge off and give them some pretty little grill marks. Remove the grilled zucchini ribbons to a plate.
- In a food processor, throw in the artichoke hearts, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, parsley, walnuts, and a big pinch of salt and pepper. Let the food processor run for a good 20 seconds, until everything is chopped up, and be sure to stop and scrape down the sides from time to time. With the food processor running, stream in the olive oil. Scrape the pesto out into a bowl, and stir in the grated parmesan. Taste it to check for proper seasoning.
- Place a spoonful of artichoke pesto into each zucchini ribbon, and roll it up into a little roll. The artichoke pesto is sticky so it should stick together well. Serve and enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
269 Comments on “Grilled Artichoke Pesto Zucchini Bites”
Hard to narrow it down, but my favorite vegetable is rhubarb and I’m not going to follow directions and give you my favorite fruit, which is passion fruit. I have made compote, curd, and ice cream with the rhubarb, which are all my favorites. For the passion fruit, I love passion fruit cupcakes.
I like you on Facebook
My favorite fruit is the apple. I like to make apple tarts.
Absolutely watermelon – crisp, juicy, sweet – all by itself!
I like the Fifteen Spatulas Facebook Page
I love cherries. And my favorite way to cook them is with pork chops
We have a lot of fruit trees but my favorite is the peach. This year I made peach pies, cobblers, crisp, jam, leather and my favorite grilled peaches drizzled with honey.
…and I like you on fb! (Marty Musser)
My favorite summertime food is definitely corn on the cob, and I like it on the grill best. Great giveaway! I love OXO.
Hey Joanne! You know I have to try for all that OXO awesomeness! Do you think they’d send it all the way out here to me?
Now, it’s hard to pick a favorite summer fruit or veggie. I think I’m going to have to go with strawberries. Everyone always looked forward to when the local crop would be ready. We’d make them into pies, shortcake, and we’d have jam that would last through the winter. I miss Michigan strawberries.
I live for the summer tomato season.
My favorite summer tomato recipe: pasta, olive oil, garlic, and chopped fresh tomatoes. So simple and so good!
I love having blueberries in season during the summer months! I used them last week to make a lemon-blueberry sauce for a cheesecake recipe!
I’m a fan of Fifteen Spatulas on FB. 🙂
Pineapple is my fave {summer or not!} … and grilled pineapple is even better! {Especially when served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream drizzled with caramel sauce!}
My favorite summer fruit is apricots!
My favorite summertime fruit…MANGOES!
They’re so versatile. Grill ’em. Chop ’em up for salads and salsas. Puree ’em for spreads, sauces, drinks (margaritas). The list goes on and on…..