We tend to BBQ whenever we have that chance, which may sound funny coming from a vegetarian, but as I say in my cookbook: BBQ is a vegetarian’s best friend! Most of the side dishes are vegetarian anyway and there is a ton that you can throw on the grill as a veggie head, my favourite lately is a “burger” of grilled halloumi & portobello mushroom with pesto – super yum!
Just recently with the fabulous weather we’ve been having (ironically rain dumping down outside just as I write this) we’ve really amped it up on the grilling! In the last week we’ve bbq’d thursday dinner, friday dinner, saturday breakfast, sunday lunch & tuesday dinner! It’s fantastic being able to cook and eat outside but there’s only so many portobello mushrooms a girl can have so what, might you ask, have I been eating? Well let me tell you about it…
Saturday breakfast started it all, as 3 of us sat around pondering life in a hungover haze – we wondered; since half of our grill is a cast iron griddle, could we cook eggs on it? I decided we could, the boys had their doubts, I was right (as usual).
On the grill side we cooked up some potato waffles, veggie quorn sausages and a pot of beans as well as toasted bread. On the griddle side we did mushrooms with worcestershire sauce and the eggs. And a fabulous practically full english was served without hardly even entering the kitchen.
So sunday as we sat around wanting some food and not wanting to go out or cook anything in the super hot kitchen we decided why not grill some lunch? We ended up having a to die for Mediterranean feast! (Pictured at top of post)
It all starts with the roasted pepper – my big trick is that you MUST keep it whole while roasting, this keeps those ever important juices inside and is what really gives it that roasted red pepper flavour. So we stuck a big red one on the grill side and let it blacken a bit as it cooked – after everything is off the grill take the pepper and break it over the rest of the grilled veggies and that juice come out all over them, then just pull out the middle seedy bit by the stem and tear it into strips.
Aside from that we also had sliced green courgette (zucchini) on the grill side and mushrooms, onion & sweet potato chips (fries), on the griddle side – everything gets a good lashing of sea salt and olive oil. Cherry tomatoes thrown on the grill at the end with some turkish bread & all served up with a bit of greens.
I had some yoghurt & mayo in the fridge so I made up a couple dips to go along with it all. A horseradish mayo, a basil mayo, and a ranch dressing. Using more yoghurt than mayo for both the “mayos” really cuts down on the fat and the ranch is actually a packet mix from america I’m afraid so all you Londoners reading this there really isn’t a great easy substitute. Add a bit of lemon juice and just taste as you go along for the mayo dips.
Finally last night was beautiful and warm and we thought why not give it a go again?! So we made vegetarian lettuce wraps (made famous at american restaurant p.f. changs recipe here)
This was definitely the most challenging yet, what with all the bottles needed for all the sauces I felt like I was bringing the entire kitchen outside with me but it was still nice to cook under the sky. I made the sauce and ripped up lettuce leaves at the table and the boy grilled up some mighty fine tofu blocks with garlic, onion, ginger, water chestnuts & bamboo shoots – including slowly adding the cooking sauce.
When we first bought this grill which is half griddle I was envisioning halloumi and veggie skewers that don’t fall through the cracks, the boy was envisioning fried onions to go on his sausage but I think it’s safe to say we both got more than we bargained for.
What are your favourite, and most random, from the grill meals??