It sounds simple enough. Vegetables on the grill. Well, it is and it isn’t which you already know if you experimented with grilling veggies on either your gas or charcoal grill.
The best vegetables for the grill are ones that are fairly sturdy: bell peppers, eggplant, summer squash, zucchini, corn, carrots, green beans, okra, potatoes, onions, asparagus and some tomatoes. Depending upon your recipe, you may choose to grill the vegetables whole and then slice them. Or you can slice them first. Using a grill basket is a matter of personal choice and the size of the vegetables you are grilling. For the most part, I don’t use one because I like having the grill marks on my ingredients.
Parboil or not? Some I do; others I do not. I think green beans are much better if slightly parboiled and shocked prior to grilling Corn can be either way for us. Potato slices or wedges are definite parboils in my opinion, but I would never parboil most of the others—summer squash, zucchini, tomatoes for example.
Right now, our gardens and farmers markets are overflowing with fresh summer vegetables; I hope you are to take advantage of the bounty. Have a whopping zucchini crop? It’s one of my favorites on the grill. Zucchini are usually inexpensive and widely abundant during these peak months. I only like to grill the smaller ones, but I do use the medium-sized ones for stuffing and grilling. Those monster ones are fodder for the compost bin for the most part at our house. Occasionally, they will find their way into zucchini bread.
Don’t be a zucchini peeler y’all Those peels are usually tender as are the seeds so don’t worry peeling or seeding them. In fact, there are very few veggies that lose their peelings at our house. Onions and corn, of course, but not much else.
AND DO NOT OVER COOK THEM! I call that veggie murder. Leave some crispness to them. Trust me, if you are accustomed to mushy veggies, you will learn to love them grilled with a bite. And they will actually have some nutrients left in them.
Here’s a little Grilled Vegetable Salad for your summer veggie pleasure:
- 8 ounces asparagus spears (about the size of your index finger), trimmed
- 1 medium zucchini, sliced lengthwise into 1/4-inch slices
- 1 medium yellow summer squash, sliced lengthwise into 1/4-inch slices
- 1 Vidalia or red onion, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
- 2 bell peppers (red, orange, yellow), quartered and seeded
- 1-2 portobello mushroom caps, cleaned
- Herbs: basil, chives, parsley, thyme (to suit your taste)
- Kosher salt
- Freshly cracked black pepper
- Nonstick cooking spray or olive oil
- Queso Fresco, feta, Parmesan (optional)
- 2 Tablespoons vinegar (sherry, champagne, white balsamic, herbal-infused)
- 1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon country-style Dijon (for lighter taste use regular Dijon)
- 1-2 teaspoons honey
- freshly cracked black pepper
- pinch Kosher salt
- Garnish: 6 tablespoons crumbled feta, blue or queso fresco cheese
- Prepare your grill according to your manufacturer's directions. I use a gas grill at home and a charcoal grill at the lake. Both have their advantages.
- Prepare all of your vegetables; set aside in the refrigerator until you are ready to grill them.
- Prepare the vinaigrette, whisk and set aside.
- Coat all of the vegetables with the nonstick spray or brush lightly with olive oil.
- Place the vegetables on the grill rack or grill pan; grill approximately 4 minutes on each side until just tender and grill marks have formed. Do not overcook or you will have stewed veggies.
- Remove from the grill and set aside to cool slightly.
- Cut vegetables into bite-size pieces; toss with chopped herbs and vinaigrette.
- Garnish with crumbled cheese.
- Use whatever vegetables appeal to you and are the freshest available. Depending upon the size of the asparagus, it may not need to cook the full 8 minutes. Larger asparagus spears have more flavor than the pencil-thin ones.
