Grill, Baby, Grill!

2010 July 20

tags: Bell pepper, Eggplant, Grilled Vegetables, Grilling, Vegetable

by BusyMOM

or… The Art of Grilling Vegetables

It’s summer. And in my family, we tend to grill our meals. What’s not to love about grilling? I just recently posted a recipe on how to grill your salad… Deeeelish! But in this post, I wanted to give you 3 tips that will help you grill vegetables beautifully.

There’s nothing quite like the taste of veggies on the grill. It just makes eating your essential vitamins and minerals all the more fun. I just posted this article on EzineArticles a couple of days ago and thought I’d share it with you here.

Step 1. Choose your vegetables. They can be anything: Here’s a list to start your creative juices going: zucchini, red onions, summer squash, Japanese eggplant, fennel, carrots, cauliflower (yes! cauliflower is GREAT bbq’d!), broccoli, leeks, and even artichokes!

Vegetable kabobs are a popular way to grill and besides that, they look nice when you combine different colored veggies. Try putting together cherry tomatoes with mushrooms, yellow bell peppers and red onion. Gorgeous!

If you are not using a kabob to grill your vegetables, then cut your veggies into thin slices, but not TOO thin. This is crucial since thinly sliced veggies grill up beautifully, but sliced too thin and you risk them becoming a burned, gooey mess.

Step 2. Seasoning your vegetables. Use a variety of flavor and seasonings. Salt and pepper of course, cumin, oregano, thyme, rosemary, chipotle – there are so many and here’s an opportunity to use your imagination on what herb or seasoning sounds good to you.

What you should avoid, though, is over-salting. Too much salt makes vegetables inedible, but also salt helps the veggies release their moisture. Too much moisture will mean they will not crisp up very much and you could very well end up with soggy, unappetizing vegetables. Yuck! BBQ-ing, roasting and grilling vegetables does make the veggies softer, but why make them softer than they need to be? Also, don’t get heavy-handed on the spice. A little goes a long ways.

Step 3. Apply the appropriate amount of oil. What’s appropriate? Just coat your vegetables with the oil of your choice. Don’t over do it. I like to use EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) for flavor, but other vegetable oils work well too.

If you don’t want to coat your vegetables, then put the oil on your grill pan or BBQ – enough so the veggies don’t stick and burn. Like I said before, the most important thing to avoid is using too much oil.

If you stick to the steps outlined above, you’ll end up with vegetables that are cooked just enough but not so much that they are soggy and unappetizing. Plus, you’ll get that wonderful BBQ flavor instilled in whatever you choose to grill.

I am such a grill-hound because of this! The flavor that a well-seasoned BBQ adds to anything you grill is just as true for veggies as it is for meat (Check out this recipe for Spicy Grilled Shrimp!)

Now that you’ve mastered how to grill vegetables, you can go on to grill your salad! Whatever you decide to do with your nicely grilled veggies, you’ll be sure to agree that vegetables never tasted so good! Enjoy!

For more great easy appetizer recipes, visit the Simple Appetizer Recipes page from Easy Appetizer Recipes.