How to Grill Spring and Early Summer Veggies
It's barbecue season, and with it comes the joys of watching dinner sizzle on the grill with a cold beverage in hand, good tunes playing, diffuse sunlight filtering through and a gathering of good people - a perfect outdoor evening!
While there is plenty of advice on how to grill meats to tender perfection, the veggie grilling game is notably sub-par.
As such, we thought it imperative that we pass along our tips and tricks for an all-round success at the BBQ:
Chop… or not.
If you're grilling the veg on a skewer, it makes sense to chop them into bite-sized cubes.
However, if your plan is to toss them straight onto the grill, leaving them whole will create a masterpiece that is crispy on the outside and tender in the middle.
With that said, any vegetables will cook whole… the question is: should it be cooked whole? For example, tossing a whole cauliflower on the BBQ will result in a charred exterior, and raw florets inside.
No bueno! As such, the next step is an important one.
Parboil.
If you're leaving a vegetable whole, and it's a rather dense specimen (things like tomatoes, capsicum, corn and eggplant don't need this treatment), we recommend parboiling it before grilling. Getting the veggies partly cooked means that you won't be sinking your teeth into a semi raw potato - which is never inspiring!
The trick here is to cook the potatoes/ beets/ whole cauli, etc until they are just able to be pierced with a knife - it's easier to continue cooking undercooked veggies than trying to salvage overcooked ones!
Salting.
Vegetables with a high water content are likely to turn rather mushy if tossed straight onto the grill with no prior preparation.
To get the full flavour and textural schebang, salting juicy crops like eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes for 30 minutes beforehand (making sure to drain the liquid) will be a game changer!
To take it one step further, you could brine said veggies (for at least an hour) for an even better result.
Oils.
Because a grill employs a significant amount of heat to sear your meal, it's important to use oils with a high smoke point: avocado oil, peanut oil, canola oil and sunflower oil (to name a few) are great. Keep the lower-heat oils for whipping up a delectable dressing.
Sauces.
A great way to impart extra flavours into grilled goods is to brush the top side of the grilling veggies with a sauce - barbecue sauce, chilli sauce, spice-based concoctions… they'll go a long way to creating a flavourful explosion in your mouth!
For more delicate sauces - those with fresh herbs or that are more acidic, we'd recommend using them later on in the cooking process: burnt herbs are not so tasty, and too much acid can result in a less tender texture.