Grilling thrills for vegetarians

Online Travel Vietnam: Dishes range from Moroccan pepper salad to zucchini to black bean burgers.

The barbecue has long been a male domain, and a meat-eater's one. It's almost impossible to avoid the hunks of pork ribs slathered in barbecue sauce, the rib-eyes and T-bones, chicken brochettes and Italian sausages that take over the menu at outdoor summer gatherings. Pity the poor vegetarian guest, left to nibble on coleslaw and potato salad or those dreaded tofu wieners.

The truth is many vegetables make for great grilling, among them onions, zucchini and eggplant. Even carrots and asparagus taste better when tossed with a little olive oil, sprinkled with sea salt and slapped on the grill until golden. Fruits do nicely on the grill, too, their sugars caramelizing and their flavours deepening.

Even some cheeses, such as the Middle Eastern halloumi, are great candidates for the grill.

Barbara Kafka, the bestselling New York cookbook author and vegetable lover, says the secret to successful vegetarian grilling is knowing which vegetables go straight on the grill and which need a little parcooking first. As she points out in Vegetable Love (Artisan), summer squash, eggplants and leeks all lend themselves to grilling without much fuss. Longer-cooking vegetables like potatoes, winter squash and fennel need "softening up" first. Kafka suggests steaming them briefly, or microwaving.

Either way, most large vegetables need to be cut into uniform chunks or slices that will allow them to cook quickly and evenly at high temperatures.

One of the best ways to ensure even cooking is to thread the vegetable pieces onto skewers, which also helps keep them from falling through the cracks of the grill grate. Another way is to place them in a grill basket.

Kafka offers a few simple rules for grilling vegetables successfully:

Always start with a clean, oiled grill.

Brush all the sides of the vegetables lightly with sunflower or canola oil. (Save expensive olive oil for drizzling over the vegetables after grilling.)

Grill over a hot fire, but not too hot. Kafka offers the "four-second test" to gauge the temperature: If you can hold your palm two inches above the grill for a full four seconds, but no longer, the grill is ready for cooking.

Leave a little space between the vegetables to ensure even cooking. If the coals begin to flare up, move the vegetables aside and wait for the flames to subside before continuing.

Use marinades to deepen flavours. But don't leave the vegetables soaking in the marinade for more than a half-hour or so; otherwise they will get soggy.

Source: canada.com/Oratrip