Vegetable Grill Baskets

I cannot recommend these things enough.  Vegetable Grill Baskets.  Examples of them can be found here, here, and here.  I have 2 round ones and I use them like crazy during the summer and most of the rest of the year.  I have a gas barbecue, and although I was slow to switch from charcoal to gas, now that I have, I use my barbecue all of the time.

Marinated vegetables grilled over a barbecue are incredible.  I typically cut up onions (sweet and red), green, red, yellow and orange peppers, cucumber, and tomatoes.  I sometimes add broccoli and cauliflower, but not always.  I tend to make a whole pile of this because it is so easy, lasts for days and can be used in a whole bunch of meals and as a side dish.  This is a great way to get used to vegetables, by eating them with grilled flank steak and wraps, as fajitas (you will have to get the book to get that whole recipe).

About an hour or more (up to about 6 hours), you can cut up all of the vegetables into bite size chunks and then put them in a big bowl with 1/4 cup of olive oil, 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar and  few sprinkles of italian spices (I have a dried spice container with a mix of oregano, basil and rosemary and it is really handy to have them premixed.  If you don’t have a shaker of this, just add  a few sprinkles of oregano).

That is all, stir it up and let it soak for at least an hour.  Then transfer it all to the grill basket and put it on the barbecue.  Stir the vegetables so the ones on the bottom don’t get burned and cook for about 10 minutes over medium heat.  You can play around to determine how cooked you like them.

These vegetables get better and better with age.  They are so good the next morning in a denver omelette.  I might put some ham or a cut up turkey sausage and a little feta cheese in with vegetables to make a truly great omelette (and this is coming from a guy who used to only eat ham and cheese omelets).  These are also good with an egg scramble with a small amount of Chorizo sausage.

You can serve these veggies up with any 4 oz meat main course as well.

Try it, you will love it.  I am telling you all of this now because in the northern hemisphere, barbecue season is just about over, and I noticed a bunch of these baskets on sale at our nearest grocery store.  For those of you in the southern hemisphere, barbecue season has just begun (although if I remember correctly from my last visit to Australia, you all barbecue on a large metal plate).