Fast and easy grilled vegetables with {more than} seventeen dishes you need to use them in.
So what’s the weather like where you are? Is it hot grilling weather already or are you still having soup because it’s rainy and cold? It is going back and forth so fast here that one night it’s Short Ribs and then the next I’m grilling dinner.
I love grilled vegetables because they’re incredibly versatile. I serve them as a side, chopped up on a Mexican style salad, on pizza, you name it I’ve probably done it. Most recently I threw them in the food processor and then stirred them into marinara for a pasta primavera.
I hesitate to give instructions because it all comes down to what you’re grilling on. I currently have a 6 burner Charbroiler with over 650 square inches of primary grilling space and 65,000 BTUs. Okay, I’m losing you, come back! Suffice it to say that the grill is huge and we nicknamed it ‘The Crematorium’ because I killed more than one steak getting used to it.
The most important things are:
- Cut your veggies the same size so they cook evenly. I slice zucchini into planks, onion into rounds, bell peppers into quarters, eggplant into rounds all about 1/3 of an inch thick.
- I cut everything into large pieces so that I can throw it on the grill without using any type of contraption. If you cut things bite size you need to use a grill basket, or skewer or whatever to keep them from falling between the grill grates.
- If you cover your grill with veggies, or any food, you will quickly find out where the hot and cool spots are because invariably some will be black and some won’t have color when you flip them. So just shuffle as needed.
Always, always at least double how much you’re making for dinner because….
- Chop them up for Mexican salad with grilled chicken or beans and salsa mixed with Ranch dressing
- Make grilled veggie pizzas
- Toss them into spaghetti sauce or any pasta like grilled veggie lasagna
- Use in any egg dish like a frittata , scrambled eggs, veggie eggs Benedict, huevos rancheros
- Pile them on a sandwich with fresh mozzarella or goat cheese, or in a wrap with hummus
- Make a grilled veggie ratatouille
- Make grilled veggie gazpacho
- Use them in a grilled veggie fried rice
- Add them to burritos and tacos
- Stir into couscous or any grain for a side dish or light lunch
Okay I’m hungry now! Do you grill? Or is that someone else’s job at your house?
Fast and Easy Grilled Vegetables
Ingredients
- 2 T olive oil or more or oil of your choice
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Assorted veggies zucchini and/or summer squash sliced into 1/3” planks, eggplant sliced 1/3” rounds, bell peppers quartered lengthwise, red onion sliced horizontally so they stay in solid ring sliced 1/3”, asparagus bases snapped off, whole mushrooms with stems removed etc
- Optional: fresh herbs balsamic vinegar or vinaigrette salad dressing.
- Here’s how I do it:
Instructions
- I turn the grill on and set all burners to high, close and preheat for 10 minutes.
- I toss all veggies except eggplant and mushrooms in oil. For them I pour oil in my hands and then toss vegetables around the bowl with my hands. They are like sponges and if you try to drizzle them with oil they just suck it up instead of getting nicely coated. Then I season with salt and pepper.
- I open the lid and find that the grill is off.
- I curse the fact that I have a grill with a propane tank instead of natural gas line off the house and send the husband to the store for a new propane tank.
- When I finally have a hot grill I put the veggies on in a single layer, turn all burners to low and turn the burner under the onion off.
- Any veggie I do takes about 3 minutes on each side except for onion and whole mushrooms which I like to cook for at least twice as long.
- Drizzle with your best olive oil if desired and check seasoning. Add fresh herbs and or balsamic vinegar if desired. Or a vinaigrette salad dressing if you prefer.
- Serve hot or at room temperature.
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