Meatless Monday with Grilled Vegetable Tostadas with Fresh Tomato Salsa

Hola! It’s Meatless Monday again and grilled vegetable tostadas are for dinner. Your grill will work magic on these vegetables.  The high heat extracts just the right amount of flavor and it brightens, sweetens and intensifies the vegetables, making these tostadas a quick and delicious taste of Mexico. This recipe comes by way of the Martha Stewart kitchens over at Everyday Food so it’s gotta be good!

Ingredients for Grilled vegetable tostadas:
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for grates
• 3 medium zucchini (1 1/2 pounds total), cut into 1/2-inch-wide slices on the diagonal
• 4 portobello mushrooms (1 pound total), stemmed
• 1 1/2 bunches scallions, root ends trimmed
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 4 flour tortillas (10-inch or burrito-size)
• 3 cups store-bought fresh salsa or Fresh Tomato Salsa (see recipe below)
• 4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (1 cup)
• 1 lime, cut lengthwise into 4 wedges (optional), for serving

Fresh Tomato Salsa
• 1 1/2 pounds plum tomatoes (6 to 8), cored, halved, and seeded
• 1/2 medium red onion, minced (1/2 cup)
• 1 jalapeno or serrano chile (ribs and seeds removed for less heat, if desired), minced
• 1 small garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
• Coarse salt

Directions for Grilled vegetable tostadas:
Heat grill to high; lightly oil grates. In separate piles, arrange zucchini, mushrooms and scallions on a baking sheet. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons oil and season with salt and pepper. Working in batches (if necessary), remove each pile of vegetables from baking sheet. Grill, turning once, until lightly browned and tender, 2 minutes for scallions, 6 minutes for mushrooms, and 8 minutes for zucchini. Return all vegetables to baking sheet. Slice mushrooms into 1/2-inch-wide strips. Set aside. Brush tortillas with remaining tablespoon oil; grill, turning frequently, until browned and very crispy, about 2 minutes. Place 1 tortilla on each serving plate; cover evenly with mushrooms and zucchini. Using kitchen shears, snip scallions over vegetables. Top with salsa, and sprinkle with feta; serve with lime wedges, if desired.

Directions for Fresh Tomato Salsa
Chop tomatoes into 1/4-inch pieces; transfer to a medium bowl.  Add onion, chile, garlic, cilantro, and lime juice; season generously with salt. Mix to combine.  Let stand 15 minutes to develop flavor.  Salsa can be kept at room temperature up to 2 hours. To store, transfer to an airtight container, and refrigerate up to 3 days.
These grilled vegetable tostadas serve four and the fresh tomato salsa yields 3 1/2 cups. The fresh tomato salsa can be served with tortilla chips as a healthy snack when relaxing with the family or having company over. It would also be a great addition to your nacho platter.  Grilled vegetable tostadas is a great meal to make when company is coming over, especially if they don’t observe Meatless Monday – this recipe is so good they won’t even miss the meat and will be asking you for the recipe by the end of the night. So relax and enjoy a taste of Mexico.