GRILLED VEGETABLES

Barbecues (bbq) are not just for cooking meat.  I like to grill vegetables right on the bbq.  Recently I made two recipes  - one was grilling vegetables on the bbq and then making a salad with them and the second recipe is a vegetable torte based on a recipe by Mark Bittman that I found online at the NY Times.  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/21/dining/21mini.html?scp=10&sq=mark%20bittman&st=cse    This recipe requires grilling followed by baking the vegetables in a spring form pan.  If you go to the link that I provided, there is a short video that shows Mark Bittman making the recipe.  I always enjoy watching him cook, he makes it look easy and he likes to keep it simple.  You can add or substitute other vegetables than the ones I have used in these two recipes.

RECIPE #1

Here is the bbq that I use.  I like it because it has a cast iron lid.  After heating the bbq to about 400 degrees F,  I placed two sliced small eggplants and one sliced zucchini, a quartered large onion, four portabella mushrooms and a yellow pepper cut into two halves.  I brushed the vegetables with olive oil and sprinkled salt on them before grilling.  

Grilled vegetables taken off the bbq.  Don't worry about making too much as the vegetables shrink while grilling. 

I chopped up the vegetables into bite size pieces. After everything is chopped and placed into a mixing bowl, I added some olive oil, balsamic vinegar and chopped fresh basil from the garden. 

The finished product.  It is a great tasting salad.

RECIPE #2

In making Mark Bittman's recipe, I adapted it to meet my preferences.  I decided to bake the vegetables versus grilling them on the bbq and added some other ingredients. 

I sliced one zucchini and two eggplants and brushed with oil and sprinkled with salt. 

In a second pan, I cut up one yellow pepper, two portabella and several white mushrooms, baby carrots and asparagus.  After brushing with oil and sprinkling with salt, the two pans were put in the oven and baked at 375 degrees F for about 25 minutes.  Once the vegetables were cooked, the second half of the cooking process started.  

Using a spring form pan, I started to layer the vegetables.  I used the eggplant as the bottom layer followed by the other vegetables.  In many ways, this is like a stacked, crustless pizza. 

After the vegetables were layered, I added sliced tomato and sprinkled about 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese and a chunk of focaccia bread cut up into small pieces. You can use other bread or fresh bread crumbs if desired.  If you have fresh herbs, you can add basil, oregano, parsley or thyme.  Bake at 400 degrees F for 30 minutes. 

The finished product.  I probably used too large of a spring form pan for the amount of vegetables that I layered in the pan.  The torte was delicious and this was supper for the DH and I.