Vegetarian BBQ Recipes

BBQ Pumpkin
Dianne Procopio

I like things simple and this is just that…

Slice some Kent pumpkin (or your favourite pumpkin) approx 1cm thick. Drizzle with some olive oil. Sprinkle with a little salt and some garlic powder. Cook on BBQ (grill or plate) until just tender.

Char-Grilled Zucchini Slices
Cheryl Haining

Ingredients:

• 1-2 large zucchini
• Salt
• Olive oil
• Dukka

 

Method:

Slice zucchini lengthways into pieces 1 cm thick. Sprinkle with salt and leave to stand one hour. Rinse and pat dry. Sprinkle with olive oil and dukka. Grill on each side for one minute. Serve warm as an appetiser or as a side dish.

Cheese Potatoes
Sandra Bennett

Steam whole in jackets. When soft, scoop out potato and mix with grated tasty cheese. Replace filling, cover with foil and place over Heat Beads® briquettes to melt the cheese… ah, beautiful.

Eggplant Dolmades  - Finalist
Brigitte Stone

Ok so this is a totally to-die-for light lunch, side dish or could even be developed into a main course it’s that damn good!!!

Ingredients:

• An eggplant (preferably organic and big – so you get to eat more)
• Olive oil (or one of the new tea/chamomile/rice bran/grape seed type oils – but I looove the reliable old extra virgin ORGANIC olive oil)
• Danish feta (as it is creamy and yummy and salty)
• Fresh vine-ripened tomatoes
• Pesto to serve: It’s easy and way nicer to make your own. It’s just char-grilled or toasted pine nuts, a bunch of basil, pinch of sea salt, as much garlic as you (or the people around you) can tolerate. I like to put a whole bulb on the grill for a minute – I find it takes the edge off, but still provides the pesto with a mellow garlic-ness. Then just process all hard ingredients together in a blender or mortar and pestle, and add a stream of olive oil til it’s the consistency you want. Most chefs will tell you to stir in parmesan cheese as well, but I don’t really think it’s imperative, however, cheese is great so if you love it, ADD it!!!

Method:

Slice the eggplant lengthways so that you have several pieces. The thickness is subjective – I like mine juicy so cut it thicker and cook it longer. If crispy and well-cooked is desired, simply slice thinner (it will also cook faster so you can EAT faster!!!)

To cook, brush each side with olive oil and place it on your weapon of choice (BBQ or grill plate). To get it really tasty I saturate with MORE olive oil (I like to convince myself it’s healthy in some way!)

After all the eggplant pieces are cooked to perfection, remove from the heat source and begin to assemble.

On the cooked eggplant pieces add a slice of crumbly Danish feta and a wedge of fresh tomato

(If you want to make this more substantial, add some parma ham, prosciutto or some other char-grilled veggies like peppers or sweet potato.)

Roll them up! (The oil on the eggplant and the moistness of the feta should allow them to stick without too much drama.)

Once they are all done (resembling dolmades or little fat cigars), put them back on the grill until they are warmed through

Remove and place on a serving dish and dress with the pesto

For a light snack or starter serve just like that. For a light lunch try with an authentic Greek salad or simple greens. For a main course it’s great with Italian pork sausages and char-grilled potato wedges.

YUM!!!

Enjoy with love.

Eggplant with Paprika Oil and Feta
Angela Clark

Ingredients:

• 2 or 3 eggplants sliced about 1cm thick
• 1/2 a cup of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp of sweet paprika
• Greek feta

Method:

Mix the olive oil and the paprika together and generously brush over the eggplant slices.

Grill eggplant on both sides until soft and well-cooked.

Place a dollop of feta on each slice and fold in half like a sandwich to serve. The feta melts.

Baba Ganoush – two much is never enough
Adrian Flint

Ingredients:

• Two large eggplants
• Two large cloves fresh garlic (finely chopped)
• Two slices of red onion (finely chopped)
• Two tbsp Tahini paste
• Two tsp cumin seeds (dry roasted and ground to a fine powder)

Method:

Use a fork and prick eggplants all over, spacing about 3-4 cm apart (sort of random).

Place eggplants in foil tray in centre of Weber (indirect cooking) with Hickory smoking chips and bake until very soft (about 45 min). Remove, cool, scrape flesh from skin, mush with a fork, add other ingredients. Use as a condiment or as dip with fresh flat or Lebanese bread.

Smoky Baba Ganoush
Paul Mills

Cook 1 kg of eggplant over Heat Beads® briquettes – grill over high heat until blackened all over. Cook six cloves of garlic over grill until soft, but not black. Peel eggplant and place in blender with peeled garlic, 1/2 jar Tahini paste and juice of 1 lemon, blend until smooth. Enjoy!

Treat BBQ Like a Wok (Tempeh & Vegetable Stir Fry)
Kerry Tait

Great for vegos and gluten intolerant. You need a nice, heavy BBQ plate which you can heat up and then back the temperature off. Have a clean, dedicated plate for this one - no bits of old sausage should make it into this meal!

Ingredients:

Slice up and marinate good quality Indonesian tempeh for a few hours in:

• Finely grated fresh ginger
• Tamari or good quality light soy
• Fresh red Asian chilli (optional)
• Sesame oil

Experiment with the marinade proportions. The tempeh should be coated but not drowning. Go easy with the sesame oil.

Chop mouth sized pieces of any combination of seasonal vegetables from the following list putting together contrasting colours:

• Zucchini (Courgette)
• Asparagus
• Green beans - especially snake beans for the nutty flavour
• Yellow beans
• Red and green capsicum
• Yellow baby squash
• Snow peas
• Broccoli

Method:

Hot water soak or par boil some noodles. Vietnamese rice vermicelli is good, so are Japanese udon if you're after a more wintery feel. Or, grab some fresh ones if you're near an Asian grocery.

Have some fresh mung bean sprouts ready to go to add last. Chop and set aside some fresh coriander for garnish. Have some chopped roasted peanuts set aside for garnish.

Ok, here we go.

Fire up the BBQ and oil very lightly with sunflower oil or peanut oil. No canola, it's evil.

Stir fry the tempeh and put to a cooler part of the plate. Reserve the marinade.

Stir fry the veg. Add in the noodles and join tempeh, noodles and veg together, final stir fry on the BBQ plate. Cook the veg fast. Add a little reserved marinade or tiny bit of water to cook quicker/steam on the plate, up to you. Add in the bean sprouts at the last minute, one stir through.

Plate up. Garnish with coriander and dried peanuts.

Whole food cooking
Gavin Crowe

Ingredients:

Whole:

• Tomato
• Mushroom
• Zucchini
• Carrot
• Eggplant
• Pears
• Figs
• Garlic
• Small potatoes
• Bananas
• Stone fruits
• Grapes
• Spinach
• Meat or meat substitute
• Flat bread i.e. chapatti (plain flour, salt, water, oil)

Method:

Turn BBQ on. When BBQ is too hot to hold hand or other body part over surface, cooking time is likely to commence – at will. Place food objects onto BBQ in order of density and/or size. It is preferable that the foods should not cook from one side to the other without them being turned. This is called 'turning the food'. Use either knowledge, logic or intuition in the timely removal of foods.

Sauce (sometimes called Salsa Verde):

Prepare prior to BBQ. Place the following into a blending machine or large and manual pulverising machine.

To your taste:

Herbs of your liking i.e. parsley, mint , savory, winter savory, thyme (various), basil, marjoram, oregano, tarragon

• Garlic
• Anchovy
• Green olives – or black!
• Capers
• Cornichons (small sour gherkins)
• Lemon zest
• Chilli
• Olive oil (lots)
• Pepper (try to use, generally, only, these ingredients according to preference in tolerance)

Blend all ingredients, adding the oil as required so that a thick sauce – or runny?! – is created. Otherwise, use age-old machine. Making mess is fun!

Alternative sauce: Crush together BBQ tomato and garlic with herbs and other ingredients (probably not meat) of your choice.