A Healthy Grilled Mixed Vegetables Recipe
If you are serving grilled meat or fish, sometimes a grilled vegetables recipe works really well alongside it. This recipe for outdoor grilled vegetables features mushrooms, tomatoes and zucchini, and is a delicious accompaniment to any main dish.
The rich, vibrant colors of the veggies which make the dish appetizing and eye-catching, and the dry heat results in caramelization.
Remember too, vegetables will keep their precious nutrients intact if you barbeque them, unlike boiling them in water which destroys some of the vitamins and minerals.
There are lots of different kinds of vegetables you can barbecue, many of which will cook in under 15 minutes.
Feel free to experiment with the vegetable combination.
Eggplant, bell pepper, summer squash, red onion, and asparagus grill well too and have roughly the same cooking time.
Pick out your favorite vegetables or see what there is in the refrigerator that needs to be used up.
It can be nice to combine vegetables which are brightly colored or have different colors together because the resulting dish will look extra appealing.
Anything with a longer cooking time can go on to the barbecue first and anything which needs less cooking can go on later. As a rule, vegetables which are hard and dense require more cooking time, so a potato is going to take a lot longer than a mushroom, for example.
If you do want to add anything that dense then parboil the vegetables the first.
If you boil small potatoes for 12 minutes they should be nearly cooked. You can then add them to the barbecue with the mushrooms, tomatoes and zucchini.
The same applies to carrots, rutabaga or anything else which is dense.
This grilled vegetables recipe is served with a tasty dressing so that vegetarians can enjoy the grilled mixed vegetables as a meal in its own right.
If you are serving this as a side dish it will serve four people but you can halve that amount if you are serving it as a main dish for vegetarians, allowing a pound of veggies per person if that is all they are having.
Serve some cornbread or something else with the veggies and this will serve three as a main dish. If you are serving this buffet style for each person to serve themselves then consider this as a recipe for four, just so you know how many it is likely to feed.
You do not have to make the lemon parsley butter if this is just an accompaniment to a grilled meat recipe or grilled fish recipe, because its role is to add flavor to the vegetables and transform simple veggies into a tasty main dish.
If you are serving plain grilled meat or fish though, something which has not been marinated or which is not being served with a sauce, then do make the lemon parsley butter, because the flavor of that will suit any type of meat or fish.
Using the barbecue just to cook a side dish might seem a bit superfluous but if you are using it anyway to cook other items then adding vegetables is a great idea, as they will benefit from the smoke and heat just as much as everything else.
When vegetables are grilled, they release their juices, meaning they are tender but still moist and sweet. You cannot go wrong with this easy barbequed vegetables recipe and the lemon parsley butter transforms a plate of vegetables into something special.
Summary: This simple recipe shows you how to barbecue vegetables like a pro. The heat and smoke from the barbecue gives them a wonderful flavor and whether you serve these with or without lemon butter sauce, they are sure to get compliments.
Grilled Mixed Vegetables Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 lbs assorted vegetables mushrooms, zucchini and tomatoes for example, thickly sliced
- ¾ tablespoon seasoned salt
- ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat the grill to medium hot.
- Combine the prepared vegetables, salt, and oil in a resealable plastic bag and toss to coat them well.
- Grill them, turning them once, until everything is tender and a bit charred.
- Serve warm with the chilled lemon parsley butter.
These barbequed mixed vegetables served with a lemon butter sauce featuring fresh Italian parsley offers a wonderfully healthy side dish or main dish for a light summertime lunch.
If you are cooking steaks or chicken, this makes a great side dish for meat, and the vivid colors of vegetables are always appealing. Cook this over charcoal for an incredible smoky aroma or throw some woodchips on the grill to get a similar effect.
The grill-marks give them even more visual appeal and you can bet these will be really juicy and succulent.