Grilled Vegetables: the basics
We are all tired of hearing about how hot it is. And tired of how hot it is. But I am going to keep talking about it for another blog post ‘cause I’ll be damned if I’m turning on the oven this week. Or next.
To the grill, my friends!
A CSA farm share member had mentioned that he loved to grill almost anything in his share this time of year. So I decided to try grilling carrots. I made a lot, because I was taking them to a potluck. But they shrink down, so it turned out to be not that much. So keep that in mind when making them!
Remember, carrots keep! So you can do this now, or store some for next week. Or use this recipe later when you have carrots coming out your ears.
Pre-heating the grill, herby butter and carrots at the ready.
I peeled about 1.5 – 2 lbs of carrots because they were a little hairy, but really, all you need to do is wash them. The skin has some fiber and nutrients in it, so unless you have a good reason to, I wouldn’t peel them. Here’s what my set up looked like:
You could do endless combos of butter, herbs, and a tablespoon or so of vinegar or lemon to baste grilled veggies. The lemon or vinegar offers a little bite to the buttery goodness. I went with two teaspoons of fresh rosemary and around a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar added to my melted Lifeline butter.
Pre-heated the grill on high for about 5 minutes. Then turned it down to medium low.
I arranged the carrots on the grill — certainly the hardest part — hot grill at 4:30 pm on a 100 + day — bah! I basted them with the butter-herb mixture and dashed back in the house setting the timer for 10 minutes before you could say eat more kale.
Carrots freshly laid on the grill.
I turned and basted again and set the timer for 10 more minutes, and then scooped them off the grill.
And yes, I did baste them again before serving. I might have actually drizzled the remainder of the butter over the carrots in layers as I was putting them into the bowl. Yum.
I like a little burn to mine. Final product. They definitely shrink down!
While you’ve got the grill heated, a few other grillable veggies. . .
CABBAGE – Turn regular old cabbage into wedges of grilled flaky loveliness topped with BACON. Also, the Kitchn has a roundup on cabbage, including grilled cabbage.
KALE – a new kind of kale chip made on the grill. Kids will love this.
BROCCOLI – this recipe looks amazing — so tasty and crispy.
ZUCCHINI – this recipe mixes grilled zucchini (summer squash works too — very similar in taste, one is yellow, the other is green) with quinoa. Great vegetarian main dish.
Grilled Carrots with Butter, herbs & Vinegar (try with any veggie you’d roast!)
Super easy, super fast.
Ingredients:
1 – 2 lbs of carrots, if small, no need to chop, if large, cut into 4 pieces
1/2 stick of butter (I used Lifeline)
1 – 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar or lemon juice
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary, summer savory, or whatever woody herb you have on hand
How to:
Preheat the grill to around 375 or medium.
Chop your carrots or leave them whole — no smaller than your finger, though — the cook time is for larger carrot pieces. If you have a grill basket, this will come in handy.
Turn the grill to medium low and add the carrots, quickly basting them with the butter mixture.
Cook for 10 minutes. Turn the carrots, baste again.
Cook for another 10 minutes and remove from the grill. Drizzle with the remaining butter mixture. Enjoy!