Posted on 07/22/2023 5:48:31 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Expert Tips for Grilling Vegetables Perfectly—Plus 7 Recipes to Try
There are only so many things you can do with burgers or chicken breasts but, once you learn about how to grill vegetables, the options for summer’s bounty of produce are endless. “People often go to meat when they think about grilling, but I think vegetables are actually the most transformed by the grill,” says Julia Taylor-Brown, former head of culinary at Spark Grills.
“By using a dry heat method like grilling,” Taylor-Brown continued, “you intensify and concentrate the flavors of the vegetables by drawing out the water and caramelizing the outsides.” Learn how to grill vegetables to make the most out of them, and then pick one of our grilled veggie recipes to try.
The Best Vegetables to Grill
“All vegetables can be amazing,” insists Taylor-Brown, because charcoal helps vegetables get smoky and build even more flavor. “For me, the most transformed by the grill—either because the smoke pairs with the natural flavors so well or the sugars caramelize beautifully on the grill—are eggplant, asparagus, portobello mushrooms, carrots, broccolini, and thin-sliced potatoes—aka grilled French fries.”
Honorable Mentions That Are a Bit Tricky
While pretty much any vegetable can be grilled, not all vegetables are created equally grill-worthy. Lettuce isn’t that popular on the summer BBQ scene, but consider tossing halved romaine over a hot grill for a fun summer salad, or char halved tomatoes for a nice smoky flavor.
Denser vegetables, such as whole potatoes or winter squash (like pumpkins), are a bit trickier to grill. They take longer to cook, and risk burnt outsides and/or underdone insides. To avoid this, precook these hearty veggies—microwave or boil them—to halfway done.
If you’re cooking with small mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, or other adorable but potentially burnable produce, consider using skewers so your vegetables can get that direct grill flavor without falling into the fiery pit. For even smaller vegetables like chickpeas, or hard ones like baby carrots, use a mesh grill basket.
Delicate broccoli and cauliflower florets tend to fall apart when set straight on the grates. Give them—as well as Brussels sprouts—the skewer or basket treatment, and keep in mind that they’ll cook twice as fast on a grill than they do in an oven.
Cabbage doesn’t usually come to mind when it comes to grilling, but perhaps it should. It works beautifully when sliced into steaks (as does cauliflower) or wedges.
Vegetables to Avoid
There are only a few vegetables that illicit a firm “no” on the grill. Cucumbers and celery are in that category. Their high fiber content and most of their nutrients dissipate when cooked—whether you’re inside or outside. Beans and spinach are also problematic on a grill grate but can still be cooked outside on a cast-iron skillet.
Details on how to grill veggies, and recipes to try at link:
https://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/cooking-tips-techniques/how-to-grill-vegetables
Report from growing zone 7a - Holding down the fort here.
Tomatoes are ripening-
All is well.
Hope you are well!
The other night at supper I was pointing out to Beau the various veggies he was eating that were right from the garden, in both his salad and the side dishes. He said, ‘I love your Kill It and Grill It attitude!’ and today’s topic was born. ;)
I know we talked about Zucchini last week, but grilling it is another great option!
How to Cook Zucchini 8 Different Ways—Including Grilled:
https://www.realsimple.com/how-to-cook-zucchini-7550369
Love veggies grilled in foil with butter salt and pepper- I know it’s not dry grilling like open flame, but it still tastes great in my opinion. Onions, zucchini, yellow squash, cherry tomatoes, green beans, etc. That is one way to get me to eat more vegetables for sure.
the silver queen sweet corn has arrived!!
Good morning and thank you for this garden thread!
Thanks, Pete! :)
Good Morning! ;-)
Good beautiful summer morning...my caged tomatoes are ripening, but growing zucchini since moving back to Oregon 15 yrs ago has been impossible! This year it is the critters.
Wisconsin is having some tough times these days, with no rain. My garden is doing great; I have a well and hoses that reach everything. The crops immediately around us are doing OK, but not as good as they normally are. Gonna be some hungry dairy cattle and broke farmers if things don’t turn around quick! At least our doofus Governor is paying attention for a change! We have 72 counties; 27 are in drought conditions. Not good:
More than two dozen Wisconsin counties now qualify for natural disaster emergency aid due to drought
As severe and extreme drought conditions continue across Wisconsin, people more than two dozen of the state’s counties are now eligible for government aid as a result of natural disaster declarations from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
A total of 27 Wisconsin counties now carry the disaster designation from USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, either as primary or contiguous counties.
According to the USDA, the primary counties eligible include Adams, Crawford, Dodge, Grant, Green, Juneau, Lafayette, Marquette, Monroe, Richland, Rock and Vernon counties.
The aid is also available for the contiguous — or neighboring — counties of Columbia, Dane, Fond du Lac, Green Lake, Iowa, Jackson, Jefferson, La Crosse, Portage, Sauk, Walworth, Washington, Waukesha, Waushara and Wood counties.
The disaster declarations are based on the U.S. Drought Monitor’s tracking of drought conditions and whether the counties saw eight or more consecutive weeks of either severe, extreme or exceptional drought conditions during the growing season.
People in qualifying counties can get emergency credit and loans from the USDA to help cover the loss of equipment or livestock, farm reorganization, or some forms of debt refinancing. The USDA’s Farm Service Agency will review the loan requests based on the extent of losses, available security, and the ability to repay.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers at the state’s Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection applauded the designation opening up aid to Wisconsin’s farmers.
“We’re continuing to do everything we can to support our farmers and their families, and we appreciate the help from our federal partners and USDA Secretary Vilsack to support our state’s farmers and our local communities during the recent drought conditions,” Gov. Evers said in a statement Friday.
Good morning Diana.
That’s all I can *politely* say today. I can add: Deer...
I do not have a grill so my brother next door will grill things for me. I could never talk dad into a grill, but mom and I have been talking about getting one. I love grilled food - grilling imparts a flavor that you just can’t beat.
The sunflowers have been blooming long enough that the goldfinches are hopping among the flowers & checking them out - I am sure they are doing some ‘seed removal’ already.
The hummers are really active, draining one of the feeders about every 2.5 days. The other feeder isn’t as popular, but still getting visitors. I suggested mom get a small table & chairs for the front porch - she found a ‘bistro’ set this past week that is perfect. Now we can eat on the porch & watch the hummers on the feeder.
The humidity is much lower today & temps should be in the 80’s ... trend should hold until Monday when it’s back to more brutal conditions. I plan on finishing up mowing & getting the garden ‘straight’ after some pretty good rain showers. The weeds are more than happy & growing.
Wildlife update: the chicken killer (6 in 2 nights) has been trapped - it was a large raccoon. The large snake that was hanging out in the coop rafters & raiding the nest boxes (no eggs for 2 days prior to the massacre) has moved on. My SIL heard noises & a large snake had caught a baby bunny. Nature ... not for the faint of heart.
Unrelated, but I heard this yesterday & thought I would pass it on. We have been dealing with 2 deaths in the family since January & this brings the fact that there is an end to life on this earth front & center. Those dealing with AI, robotics, trying for immortality will be disappointed when their time comes & inevitably, it will come. So here is a bit of ‘philosophy’ from Dr H (naturopath Dr. Henry Ealy) that was meaningful to me:
“The goal is not immortality - the goal is to be the best you can be in the time you are given.”
Great thread.
Thanks.
I’m not a vegetarian, but I like ALL vegetables more than meat.
Much the opposite here in NE, though last year saw drought. and I do not think i actually needed to water the gardens for over a month. Almost 2'' of heavy rain fell just last night, but the tomatoes survived, thank God.
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Thanks and glory to be God in Christ.
Starting to get more Red Deuce and also a few Chadwick Cherry. Ate three this morning. Red Deuce is the commercial hybrid so they're nothing special. Chadwick are heirloom large red cherry and have good flavor. Won't be too long before I have more maters than I can eat. I'm anxiously awaiting Black Cherry, Cherokee Purple & Brandywine. Those are all store bought starts that were discounted for their small size which is why they're later than the rest. All are decent size and have clusters now so it won't be long.
One Chadwick vine is getting crazy long. I'm going out now to do something different with the lean and lower. Neversink farms came up with a system where you lean them on wickets.
Solves the problem I've run into where I need to lean and lower but have clusters near the bottom of the plants. I stuck a jack stand under one a few days ago but I did a little test yesterday and figured out I can do the same using strings and hanging that lower part of the vine to keep it off the ground. Hanging them horizontally by strings, I could also have 2 tiers of horizontal vine where needed.
The image above only shows a single vine but imagine 4-5 vines all laying on a set of wickets. Could get crowded and cause foliar issues. He does it in a high tunnel but I have rain to deal with and piling them on top of each other, they'd never dry out.
Speaking of which, got a couple new meat goat kids in the past few days.
Doe 1: Had two kids but one was either still born or died shortly after birth. It was dead by the time I found out she gave birth which wasn't too long after the kidding because the other one could barely stand and they start walking in 15-30 minutes.
Doe 2: single kid as usual.
The big buck died in March and their gestation period is 150 days aka 5 months so they're likely his. The younger buckling probably wasn't quite sexually mature enough at that time though he is now.
Have no idea if the new kids are male or female. My goats are free range but I need to build a fenced in area where I can catch and contain them at times. Then I can feed some grain and get close to them and get a better look. If either or both are bucklings, I'll need to catch them and band them or sell them which also requires catching them. I had one doe and big buck, that I could pet but they both died for no apparent reason. Both looked healthy as can be. All the others are skittish but I have gotten pretty close to one momma doe.
I'm doing a zero input goat herd so losses are to be expected, at least for a while. No deworming or hoof care. Started with three, made it up to five, two of the original three died bringing it down to three again and now these new kids brings it back up to five.
If at some point I end up not having at least one buck plus one doe to breed, I'm done with goats.
If I end up being able to keep a small herd and take one or two a year for the freezer with absolutely zero input, that's the ticket.
We’ve been pretty wet too, and earlier this week, I had to pull up the straw I put down between the garlic rows to keep the weeds down.
It was so wet in the garlic bed, that I was afraid it would ruin my huge crop. Looks like we are not going into a drier spell, which will be great for harvesting garlic.
My onions are doing well enough and I am hoping the drier weather will help them as well.
I did have a great snow pea crop and the romaine lettuce was very abundant. My second planting of peas is coming in nicely adn the beans are flowering.
I got some zucchini started, a little late but hoping to beat the squash bugs, especially the vine borers. We don’t do a lot of zucchini so even a small crop will be enough for us.
Most of the Brussel sprouts are doing great. I even have a few very teeny ones starting at the base of some of the plants.
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