A fancy sidekick to charcuterie, this refreshing grilled vegetable napoleon blends veggies and goat cheese to spectacular results. It’s part of a plan for hosting guests over a weekend: this is part of the welcome snack. You can make this up to 2 days ahead. If you are following our weekend hosting plan, you will be making extra. Use the best grilled vegetables for the stack, and save the rest for sandwiches for Saturday’s lunch.
To help create perfect Vegetable Napoleon stacks, we used a very cool tool. The ARCHITEC Stackable Appetizer Maker is a unique gadget that lets you turn ordinary ingredients into beautifully layered creations in just minutes. Simply place a layer of each ingredient, and press down with included flat bar, then cut into individual servings. If you don’t have this gadget, you could probably do the same thing in a narrow baking pan. Or just arrange the ingredients nicely with your charcuterie offering.
We devised a super-easy method for roasting peppers, which adds eye-popping color to the Vegetable Napoleons, see the details below.
MAKES 11 STACKS
MAKE THE MARINADE
1/4 CUP olive oil
fresh herbs, minced
s + p
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Mix ingredients together.
SET OVEN TO BROIL… ROAST PEPPERS & ZUCCHINI
3 red bell peppers
3 yellow bell peppers
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6 zucchinis, cut into 3/8-inch slices on the diagonal
marinade
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Cut peppers into their natural segments, then trim curvy parts top and bottom (save for use in salad). Remove seeds. Flatten each piece on a baking sheet lined with foil. (the foil comes into play, wait!)
Place under broiler on top shelf in oven, skin side up, until black, about 10 min. Remove from oven. Enclose peppers inside the foil to sweat the skins off. After 10 min or so, remove skins. I like to do this under running water.
For the zucchini, brush tops with marinade. Gang up slices on foil-lined baking trays. Put under the broiler for 6 min, flip, broil another 5 min. Remove from oven and allow to cool on the trays.
MAKE THE SPINACH LAYER
2 TB olive oil
2 pkgs baby spinach
1 TB raw agave
3 TB red wine vinegar
salt
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Heat a large pan over medium heat, add oil. Wilt spinach, add agave and vinegar, cook for about 1 min. (Depending on the size of your pan, you may need to do this in batches.) Transfer spinach to strainer, press down to remove excess liquid.
MAKE THE VEGEATABLE NAPOLEON STACKS
roasted yellow peppers
goat cheese, softened
roasted zucchini
cooked spinach
tomatoes, cut in 1/4-inch horizontal slices
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Layer ingredients in this order, pushing down between each layer:
1. yellow peppers
2. goat cheese
3. zucchini
4. spinach
5. tomatoes
6. goat cheese
7. zucchini
8. spinach
9. goat cheese
10. red peppers.
Cover and refrigerate. Cut into stacks when ready to serve.
See the complete menu and strategies for hosting weekend guests in style: 06 Three Day Party
