How to make the perfect grilled vegetables

Come summer, you want to get the most out of the grill, and those simple and healthy dishes full of flavour. Miriam, author of The Winter Guest , tells us today how to prepare a perfect barbecue of vegetables, as well as accompanying it with an olive sauce that you will love.

Because, man, while we get to learning, we're going to learn how to make the perfect grilled veggies . Neither regular nor passable: perfect. As we deserve, neither more nor less.

I particularly don't like too variegated mixtures of vegetables, 3-4 different types are enough for me . The vegetables that I have chosen are my favorites for the grill, but you are very free to put the vegetables that you like the most in addition to these: thinly sliced ​​cauliflower, chopped corn on the cob, pumpkin, onion wedges, etc.

We are going to accompany the grilled vegetables with a olive oil of black olives , just enough to give the vegetables a fun touch. And if you are very obsessed with the bikini operation, then you will skip the olive paste, which is really the most caloric part of this entire recipe.

Textured Plate by Tokyo Design Studio and Emile Henry Ramequin

what it takes

1. Some quality vegetables and at their point
2. A good olive oil
3. A suitable grill for this task and that transmits the heat very well.
4. A little patience, because it takes a while to cook all the vegetables.

Ingredients for about 4 people

• 1 marbled eggplant
• 1 medium zucchini
• 1 bunch of wild asparagus
• 1 bell pepper
• 1 jar of drained black olives
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 pinch of fresh rosemary (or basil)
• Olive oil for the olivada and for the grill
• Olive oil with truffle Tartuflanghe (optional)
• Salt to taste

Elaboration

First prepare the olive paste: put the olives drained of their juice in a blender with the peeled garlic, the herbs and a little olive oil (if you want, you can also add a trickle of truffle oil , to give it a different touch). Blend until a paste is made. We booked.

There are vegetables that I prefer to lightly cook before putting them on the grill, because I find that otherwise they can be somewhat raw, such as wild asparagus. I microwave them and then just mark them on the grill. We clean them from the woody end and cook them slightly. We booked.

Cut the aubergine into thin slices obliquely that we will put on a strainer and salt. Let it rest like this for at least 30 minutes to remove the bitterness.

It is advisable to brush the vegetables with olive oil before putting them on the grill , instead of painting the grill itself with oil. Apart from the fact that the oil covers the vegetables better and thus helps to transmit the heat better, it gives it a little less time to burn.

Put the cut vegetables, one type at a time, in a large bowl, drizzle with oil and stir well to cover. Except for eggplant , which tends to suck too much oil; I brush the aubergine slices just before putting them on the grill. In addition, the aubergine must be dried a little with kitchen paper after letting it release its juice. The eggplant is a bit pejiguerita…

It is essential to perfectly heat the grill before cooking the vegetables . I've used a Le Creuset skillet type grill , hence the nice grill marks, and it takes a few minutes to come to range temperature, at least 10 minutes on high heat. I use an infrared thermometer to monitor surface heating and the grill works perfectly from around 220°. Once it's hot it spreads and transmits heat wonderfully.

Skillet Le Creuset type cast iron grill , Kitchen Craft round board , olive oil with Tartuflanghe truffle , Tokyo Design textured plate and Mediterranean glass goblet

When the grill is very hot, we cook the vegetables in batches, 3-4 minutes on each side, although it depends on the type of vegetable. We are putting them in a dish covered with a cloth so that they do not get cold.

Once all the vegetables are cooked, we serve immediately with the olive paste so that each one can be served and a good wine.