Grilled Vegetables

Today's post is a collaboration between me and my handsome husband!  While I am the cook in the family, he is most DEFINITELY the master griller!  We can host dinner for 8 and he will cook 8 steaks to order.  He is amazing like that.  This past weekend I marinated veggies and he grilled them and they were de-lectable.  Here's the recipe:

Grilled Vegetables (adapted from Giada DeLaurentiis)

For the veggies:

3 red peppers, seeded and quartered

2 medium zucchini, quartered

6 medium portabello mushrooms 

1 sweet yellow onion (such as Vidalia), thickly sliced

Please feel free to mix and match the veggies.  Other suggestions for veggies are eggplant, asparagus, green onion and yellow squash.  Use your imagination!  The marinade is very versatile and tasty!

For the marinade:

2 T. white wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar (I used white wine vinegar)

2 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 T. minced garlic

Salt and pepper, to taste

1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil

In a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper and olive oil.  Toss in the red peppers and turn to coat.  Place the peppers in a 9X13 dish and repeat the process with the zucchini, mushrooms and onion.  Allow to marinate for at least 2 hours and up to overnight.  Now, I will turn this post over to the grill master!

6 servings (153 calories each serving) according to my calculator on loseit.com

Thanks Shel!  Grilling is awesome; it appeals to our primal roots, is pretty simple but involves some knowledge about the food & the fire, and the flavors it yields are unique and unmatched.

There’s a million ways to go about it so I’ll just tell you what I have and what works for me, which is a blend of quality and convenience. I have an old propane grill, and I prefer that because I can fire it up quickly & adjust heat up & down. Regardless of your setup you need to know 1) your grill and its hot/cold spots, 2) how to grill each food item because they can be different and 3) when to tell it’s done.

TIP: for smoky flavor I just throw on a little aluminum pan and a few dry hickory chips (or whatever wood you prefer). 5-10 mins over high heat and it will smoke like crazy and impart the flavor into the food

For the veggies the grill is hot (about 400 or so), uncover, leave on high heat.

Grill peppers (of any kind) always skin side down over open flame. Since it has that marinade it won’t blacken too quickly, but watch them and make sure they don’t get too charred. They are done when floppy. Then remove from direct heat and let them sit on a cooler part of the grill to stay warm until you’re done with everything.

Jalapenos and any hot peppers grill whole, rotating them. You want them to blacken but not pop and leak all the juices so you have to watch them and rotate every 30 secs or so, then let them rest on warm part of grill.

Onions are similar in that you can put those over high heat too, they are done when you have a soggy texture with slight charring. If you have a grill basket that helps if you have sliced them into rings, but I just use tongs and they stay together OK. Instead of marinade, olive oil, salt & pepper works fine for seasoning because the marinade flavor might be too strong because onions really soak it up.

I like to approach mushrooms as if they are a 1-sided steak. Keeping them whole is preferred to retain moisture and marinade flavor. Grill them cap side down over medium heat for about 15 mins, done when you see a pool of moisture in the cap like a little pool. Don’t dump the delicious juice out! Don’t grill upside down! That dries them out and you lose flavor.

For zucchini/squash, grill skin side down over high heat, then once there are grill marks on the skin, rotate a quarter turn (flop them over on their side) and grill another few minutes. Done when they look slightly wrinkled, won’t take too long.

Eggplant – skin side down like a pepper. Haven’t done that in awhile but concepts are the same.

Asparagus – treat it like you would grill a hot dog, rotating every minute and getting slight char but evenly cooking. Done when wilty.

Lemon is good to grill too but require a different approach – for that grill round slices over med heat, don’t let them char because they will stick to the grill and pull apart. Gotta be gentler with them to start out. The med heat first dries the juice on the outside and creates a skin, so it won’t stick to the grill.

After I’m done with my high heat for all veggies I like to move everything back to the hotter part of the grill, close the lid and turn off the heat. Letting them sit for another 5 mins in that convection environment aids in making them more tender.

The more you grill the better you’ll know your individual grill’s hot & cold spots, and like anything it gets easier with experience.

One last tip: grill extra veggies, freeze them and use them to add grilled flavor to your wintertime recipes like stews & soups!

Hopefully that helps you in your veggie grilling adventures this summer!