We are near to the end of the BBQ season here in the UK and in this last instalment we will be looking at vegetables.
Lots of vegetarians I know buy those ‘fake’ meat products made to look like burgers or sausages but I don’t really get it. Vegetables by themselves offer a varied and hearty meal and taste incredible when cooked properly on a BBQ.
Whole vegetables keep all there flavour while picking up the smokiness of the BBQ creating a whole new way of experiencing your favourite veggies. The biggest issue (as with most food that you BBQ) is overcooking or even burning the vegetables, causing that sweet caramelisation to turn into a bitter, acrid taste. The trick is the let a little of that “charring” happen for that classic BBQ flavour.
I am going to show you how to cook perfect veggies for you and your friends. I chose an array of veggies which I think suit BBQ cooking extremely well. My inspiration has come from trial and error (I had disastrous results when trying to cook whole artichoke once!), and of course from watching and learning from other people.
Marinating veggies is quick and easy, and the beauty is you can also use the marinade as a dressing.
Grilled Greek Style Halloumi
Halloumi is a cheese just aching to be put on the BBQ
- 250g Halloumi (1 regular packet)
- 70g Tomato puree
- 2 Cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1 pinch Dried oregano (or 1 tsp if fresh finely chopped)
- 2 Tbsp Olive oil
No salt is required in this recipe as the cheese is salty enough!
Chunk up the halloumi (Tip: sometimes the cheese is “folded” so pull apart before chopping), we want large pieces approximately 1 cm thick.
Add all other ingredients to a bowl and mix thoroughly, then add the halloumi and coat in the mixture.
Leave this marinating for as long as you can, overnight is preferable.
The chunks go directly onto the BBQ and they cook fast. You can tell the cheese is ready to turn because it should come easily away from the grill. Once slightly charred on both sides it is ready.
Serve with salad in pitta bread. You can add a bit of the marinade in there too 🙂
Veggie Skewers
For the marinade:
- 3 Lemons (juice of)
- 2 Garlic cloves, crushed
- 4 Tsp Olive oil
- 1 Sprig of thyme
- 1 Sprig of rosemary
- 1 Pinch of Salt
- 1 Pinch of pepper
The vegetables:
- 1 Courgette (zucchini)
- 1 Medium onion (red or white)
- 1 Bell pepper (any colour you like!)
Mix the marinade ingredients together thoroughly. You may think it smells too “lemony” but trust me it will taste fantastic!
Dice the vegetables into roughly the same size pieces about 2 ½ cm or 1 inch square.
Marinate the veggies for at least an hour. After this time skewer the veggies, and get them straight on the BBQ.
Keep them moving on the BBQ to stop any burning, they shouldn’t take more than 10 mins to cook depending how hot your BBQ is.
Once done toss them back into the marinade and serve.
Romano Pepper with Goats Cheese
I love this as it is so simple and tastes delicious! The long thin slightly sweet pepper works perfectly with the creamy sharpness goat’s cheese.
- 1 Romano Pepper
- 50g Goats cheese
Slice the Romano pepper length ways into 2 pieces and remove the seeds and their membrane. Grill each side on the BBQ for approximately 5 mins until soft and some blackening has occurred. Remove and place skin side down adding the goats cheese to each cavity and replace onto the BBQ until the cheese starts to melt. All it needs is a twist of black pepper then serve immediately.
Super Simple Veggie Goodness!
Corn
Sounds easy right? Wrong, as so many people I have met have messed it up and I have a fool proof method for you. It’s simple, buy ears of corn with the outer leaves still on…
Throw them with reckless abandon, and watch them blacken. Your friends will think your crazy as some of the tips of the leaves might ignite. However, once the whole ear of corn has gone black, your friends will change their minds about your methods as you carefully remove the leaves to reveal perfectly cooked golden, juicy corn within!
Serve it how you like it, for me that means a good knob of butter.
Leeks
I recently watched the latest series from Raymond Blanc, he did the same thing with a whole leek. You let it blacken all over and when liquid spits from the open leaf end remove. Strip the burned leaves off and you have leak steamed in it’s own juice with a wonderful smoky taste. Well worth doing, thank you Raymond!
Veggie “Burger”
You will find lots of recipes for veggie burgers which will fall to pieces on contact with the BBQ. Not good. Fortunately nature has provided one already, the Portobello mushroom.
Simply grill one of these giant mushrooms on the BBQ. Serve as you would a burger. (Tip: This goes amazing well topped with a soft French cheese such as Brie or Camembert!)
A veggie feast!
So there you have it a compete veggie BBQ, healthy nutritious and filling. It won’t break the bank either.
All of these recipes are also great as accompaniments to a meat based BBQ too!
Did you try any of these? How did you like them? Have you got a great veggie BBQ tip?
Latest posts by The Food Curator (see all)
- 70 Years of Wimpy - June 25, 2024
- Tindle Is Your New Favourite (Not) Chicken! - April 19, 2023
- Kelly Loves Korean Variety Box Review - October 13, 2022
Hello Michael,
your recipes and suggestions are mouth watering!
I appreciate how you included the marinade and a variety of choices.
Years ago I used to make lentil fritters and a friend of my kids said “can I have some more of that meat?’
Thank you for sharing this!
To enjoyable eating!
Yorinda
Yorinda recently posted..Recipes using Coconut oil
Yorinda, Glad you enjoyed the post! Please try the techniques out next time you fire up your BBQ/Grill, I am sure your friends (and the friend s of your kids) will love it 🙂
I love veggie skewers and Portobello mushrooms on the BBQ. I’m a vegetarian and I don’t do those fake meats . . . I don’t get it either :).
Leanne Chesser recently posted..The Miraculous List of Gratitude
Leanne, Glad you like it 🙂 The Portobello mushroom is such a good “burger” I don’t know why anyone needs anything else
Hey Michael….my family just loves to BBQ…..I am book marking this page so I can come back to it when we try some of these recipes……My family is always looking for ideas to try on the grill…….we really like veggie skewers and ….Skewers with both meat and veggies….I am going to try the Romano pepper with Goats cheese ….That really sounds good…..Thanks Michael…..Smokey
Gregory Bowen recently posted..It Snuck Up On Me Again!
Smokey, You will love the pepper, but seriously do try the “burning” method it adds amazing flavour to the vegetables and all you have to do is throw them on the grill!
Those vegetables look wonderful! One of my favorite dishes is chicken or fish kabob. Problem is, in most of the local Greek restaurants, they tend to emphasize the chicken or fish and put very few veges in there. I love the barbecued peppers, onions, zucchini. Thanks for making those veges so appealing. When I stop at the local French bakery, what is most appealing is those high calorie desserts. Veges are so much better for us.
Warmly,
Dr. Erica
Erica, The French love everything high calorie and I love them for it ;)Try the veggie skewers with some BBQ grilled fish, amazing flavours and healthy too…win/win!
Hi Michael,
I do agree that the picture of Haloumi, for example, looks interesting and appealing.
However, I am always amazed by this principle. I have heard about grilling veggies just a few years ago. All my life I knew about grilling meat but no veggies. Veggies were something that you eat fresh. Always. I saw people grilling tomatoes. What a strange thing. How can you do that? I mean you can see at a first glance, that vegetable was not created to be grilled. It is full of juice.
I also wonder about the chemical modifications inside a grilled veggie. Is it still healthy?
Have a wonderful day
Silviu, wow I don’t think I have met anyone who hasn’t been exposed to cooked vegetables before. Hope this post has inspired you, try the techniques out. As for the healthiness of the cook veggies, there may be some loss nutrients during the cooking process but to my knowledge no nasty chemical changes such as the ones that happen in meat. Anyway for me it’s about flavour 🙂