Grilled Vegetables

Grilling vegetables is easy. The fact that more people don't do it is the strange thing. The general rule is to cut the vegetables into pieces that will cook quickly and evenly. All pieces should be of consistent thickness and no more than about 3/4 to 1 inch thick. Soak vegetables in cold water for about 30 minutes before you grill them to keep them from drying out. Pat dry, then brush lightly with oil to prevent sticking. Do not over cook and you'll have vegetables better than you thought possible. If you like grilling vegetables and want to try smaller things use a grilling basket to keep them out of the fire.

Tips for Grilled Vegetables

Make sure you cut them in large enough pieces. You don't want them to fall through the grates. Peppers, summer squash, zucchini, asparagus (yum!), even carrots grill well. Toss all the veggies in a little oil and salt and pepper (be sure to use s&p), just enough to cover - you DON'T want a lot of excess oil; causes flame-ups in the grill which makes the veggies taste not as good and, of course, is dangerous. Don't toss eggplant in oil, grill it dry, or it gets to greasy.

Corn on the cob grills dry very well also. Peel it, throw it on. You'll see the kernels start to turn a deeper color - that's when it's time to turn em. Or, my favorite way - leave the husks on while grilling. The little hairs on the end burn a bit but no biggie. You keep rotating them on the grill for probably about 8-10 minutes, get a good char on the outside and they're done.I've tried grilling potato slices with little success. Grill marks that are delicious and smoky on other veggies just taste burnt on potatoes. I don't know - if you wanted to try that way, just put em over low heat and watch em. But I'd just recommend wrapping them in foil and putting em on the grill about a half hour or so, flipping occasionally. You can even put them IN the grill that way - the skin gets too burnt to eat but the inside is delicious and fluffy.