If you have never grilled vegetables on your barbecue before, now
is the time to start. It is easy to do and you will experience
tastes only obtainable by grilling.

Here are some tips and techniques for preparing and grilling
vegetables.

What vegetables are best for grilling? 

Almost any vegetable can be grilled, obviously some grill better
than others. Here is a list of vegetables that do especially
well on the grill:

Corn on the cob, all types of peppers, Zucchini and summer
squash, eggplant, asparagus, whole tomatoes, Portabello
mushrooms, potatoes, artichokes, fennel, and whole onions.

How to prepare your vegetables for grilling.

For corn on the cob, peel the husks back a little over half way.
Do not pull them off completely. Try to get most of the corn
silk off, then pull the husks back up and tie them to the cob,
then soak the whole ear in water for about an hour before setting
over a hot fire on the grill.

You can also do this. When you take the cobs out of the water,
untie them and brush them with a mixture of melted butter and
chili pepper sauce, salt and pepper, then tie them back up and
then put them on the grill. They are really good!

Zucchini should be washed thoroughly, ends trimmed off, then
slice the Zucchini lengthwise in one-quarter inch thick slices.
Brush with olive oil and place over a hot grill. They will not
take long so keep and eye on them. Do not over-cook.

Asparagus can be rolled in olive oil, salt and pepper and placed
across the grill and turned occasionally. They are great and
again, do not over cook.

Eggplant should be sliced about half an inch thick, salted and
placed in a strainer to drain. After about half of an hour, dry
the slices with a clean paper towel and brush with olive oil and
grill.

Artichokes should be halved lengthwise and placed in boiling
salted water for about 15-20 minutes, then drained thoroughly.
Brush the cut sides liberally with olive oil, salt and pepper and
place cut side down over hot fire.

Whole bell peppers can be grilled till the skins blister and turn
black. Then scrape or pull the blackened skin off, toss with
olive oil and salt and pepper and enjoy. You can also do this
with Anaheim chiles and Chiles Poblanos, also known as Ancho or
Pasilla chiles.

Russet potatoes should have their skins cleaned thoroughly and
dried. Then cook the potatoes in boiling salted water until only
half cooked. Let them cool and cut into triangles lengthwise and
spray with olive oil, place on hot grill, turning occasionally
until brown and crispy.

You will notice that we have used olive oil in all the examples
above but you can use peanut oil, walnut oil, or hazelnut oil if
you wish. Canola or sunflower oils are just too bland for
grilling.

Also, we have been grilling our vegetables directly on the grill
but you can also use foil to construct a package for your
vegetables. For example, slice a bell pepper and an onion, place
in the middle of a large piece of foil, enclose the vegetables
after dousing with olive oil and salt and pepper. Seal the
package and place on the hot grill. It should be done in about
15 minutes.

You can also prepare a whole onion this way. Skin the onion, cut
a cross from the top down three-quarters of the way through the
onion, pour on some olive oil and wrap with foil, salt and pepper
and put on the grill. Wallah!

There you have a few examples of the wonderful world of vegetable
grilling. Now here are some more tips on grilling in general.

If you are going to buy a gas grill, be sure to get one with at
least 40,000 to 50,000 BTU’s (British Thermal Units) as this will
give you enough heat to make those attractive grill marks on your
steaks, hamburgers and vegetables.

Vegetables generally are grilled over high heat, so when grilling
with charcoal, build a 3-zone fire with the coals piled in a
double layer on one side of the grill, then in a single layer in
the center of the grill and then with no coals on the other
side.

This lets you sear over the high heat of the double layer, cook
over the moderate heat of the single layer, and keep your
vegetables warm over the coal free zone.

You may want to invest in a vegetable tray. That is a tray with
small holes that you can place onto the grill which will hold
smaller vegetables like cherry tomatoes, garlic cloves or various
sliced vegetables.

Another valuable accessory would be a fish basket. This
eliminates the fish from sticking to the grill and flaking-up and
falling through the grills.

Stock up with some bamboo skewers for small kebabs and chicken
sate (Thai style chicken). To keep the skewers from burning just
soak them in water for about an hour before using.

So there you are. This information should give you the
confidence to begin grilling those vegetables for your next
barbecue party.

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