Ingredients for open fire diced salad
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Lynn Bain
When cooking over an open grid barbecue, LYNN BAIN recommends taking the opportunity for a flavour change.
As much as I chuckle over the quips that are along the lines of "nobody invites you around for a barbecue salad", I'm a big fan of the "flavour change" opportunity to add grilled/charred vegetables to a meal when cooking over an open grid barbecue.
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One of my favourite ways of serving grilled vegies with a barbecue is to make a warm salad of mixed chopped vegetables as a side. The following recipe is for an open-grid diced warm vegetable salad.
Handy hint one: Let your tastebuds and in-season availability guide your choice of vegies for the diced salad. Think onions, tomatoes (green and red), garlic, different coloured capsicum, eggplant, leeks, tomatillos, asparagus or zucchini. You could even include pumpkin, carrots and sweet potato.
Handy hint two: Try adding some finely chopped herbs of your choice to the oil in which you coat your barbecued chopped vegies.
Handy hint three: Start the vegies barbecuing process with the vegetables that will take longer to cook, such as the onion and garlic.
Handy hint four: Keep the zucchini to the edge of the heat (the lower heat zone). Zucchini is best when it is cooked through, not blistered or charred on the outside and uncooked in the centre.
OPEN-GRID DICED WARM VEGETABLE SALAD
INGREDIENTS
1 Onion, peeled and cut in half
1 knob garlic
2-3 tomatoes, left whole
1 red capsicum, deseeded and cut into wedges
1 zucchini, cut horizontally/lengthwise
olive oil
herbs of your choice
METHOD
Step 1: Place your selected vegetables on the grill grid. We are using tomatoes, capsicum and zucchini. Grill them all, turning the tomatoes from time to time so that all of the tomato skin comes in contact with the heat.
Step 2: Check the grill marks on the zucchini. I like them to be faint, but definitely visible — my preference is for a 'caramel' colour from lower heat rather than a black charring.
Step 3: Grill until the skin on the tomatoes blisters, splits and peels a little.
Step 4: When the tomatoes’ skin is split, move the tomatoes to the edge of the grill grid (wire grid) away from the main heat.
Step 5: The skin on the capsicum needs to be charred and blistered.
Step 6: Notice the charring on the onion surface. This was achieved by cooking the onion 'flat side' down for a long time (that's a technical term meaning 'as long as it takes').
Step 7: Some of the vegies that have charred (or split) can now be moved away from being directly over the heat. This keeps them warm until all of the vegetables are ready for dicing into the salad.
Step 8: Remove all of the vegies from the grill. Peel the skin off the tomatoes and rub the char (or most of it) off the capsicum and onion. Now finely chop the onion, garlic, capsicum, tomatoes and zucchini and place in a bowl. Pour a little olive oil over the mix and add some finely chopped herbs. Mix gently with your fingers or serving spoons.
