Roasting vegetables

[Luminous Animal]

6. I love creating a medley of roasted vegetable on the grill….

* It took me quite a while to type this out and doing so I realized it looked daunting But it really is not. It took nearly as much time to type this as it does cooking the menu. When everything is prepped, the cooking time goes smoothly. It just takes tenderness and care and concentration during the process. Personally, I rarely eat flesh and I have plenty of friends who eat none. But the majority of our friends do eat meat so we set up 3 grills to accommodate all. The process that I've outlined below is for me and my vegan and vegetarian friends which I cook on one of the grills and dishes that my meat eating friends also enjoy. So much so that I've had to increase the proportions over the years.

So here goes...

I read this process once in an italian cookbook and added some things and I do it every year at our MAJOR (up to 100 people) bbq..

Onions
Red, yellow or orange bell peppers
Eggplant
Waxy potatoes (sliced, in foil smallish packets, with olive oil, a smidge of butter, salt and pepper and herbs… I love thyme with potatoes- optional, very thinly sliced scallions, very thinly sliced red bell pepper.)
Corn
Scallions.
Bread thinly sliced for bruschetta.
Olive oil
Toasted sesame oil
Soy sauce
Capers
Aioli or full fat greek yogurt
Herbs
Salt and pepper


Use the chimney to light the coals. When the top coals show white ash around the edges, pour them into the center of the grill and add some more to build a pyramid near the top of the grill grate.
Close the lid, leave the air vents at 1/3+ and let the coals heat up to fire red.

Open lid. Start with squat onions halved brushed with olive oil and salt and peppered. Flat side down down on the perimeter of the grill . Place a few bell peppers closer to the coals but not directly Close lid. Open in 5 minutes.

Rotate onions. Turn bell peppers. Close lid. Open in 5 minutes.

Turn onions and stud one or 2 with cloves and turn bell peppers over move onions toward pyramid of coals but not directly over.

Place the eggplants, halved or quartered longways and brushed with oil and salt and peppered (I usually use thin Japanese eggplants but the fat ones work too. and I season with toasted sesame oil, soy sauce and pepper) flesh side down on the perimeter of the grill. Close lid Open in 5 minutes.

Rotate eggplants. Check to see of bell peppers are blistered on all sides and if not, turn to blister the last side. Onions will be bubbling like crazy. Close grill open in 5 minutes.

Open lid. Bell peppers should be blistered and easy to peal. Remove from grill and toss into a paper bag.

Move onions closer to the coal pyramid which is now cooling down a bit. The outer layers might be looking a tad crisp but that is a good thing.

Turn the eggplants with skin side down and leave them on the outside perimeter and lay down the potato packets in a circle closer to the coal pyramid. Close the lid. Open in 10 minutes. Meanwhile, remove skin and seeds from bell pepper (use a cutting board with a deep well on the edges to capture the liquid and discard.) Put in a covered bowl to retain some cooking heat.

Open lid. Eggplant should be soft. Remove (close lid), cut into 2 inch chunks, dab with a good full fat yogurt or a homemade lemon aioli and some plain for vegans. Garnish with raw gold bell pepper.

Open lid. All that is left is the onions and potato packets but they are not quite ready yet. So, remove the onions, remove the grill grate, spread the coals. Close the lid for 2 minutes. Open the lid. If you can keep your hand over the grill for more than five seconds without feeling discomfort, add more coals to the center. Put the onions and potato packets back on.

Place meaty sliced in half tomatoes seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper on the grill, sliced side down on the outside perimeter of the grill. Close lid. Open in five minutes.

Open grill and rotate tomatoes. Close lid and open in 5 minutes.

Open grill and turn tomatoes over liberally sprinkle with thyme, marjoram, and oregano. Close lid and open in 10 minutes.

Open grill and test the tenderness of the potatoes in their packets with a toothpick. They should be done. Remove potato packets and leave unopened.

Tomatoes should be ready to take off the grill. Take off the onions studded with cloves and leave those not. Chop the tomato and clove studded onion and add to the same bowl. Add a few more herbs (parsley is good here) and salt and pepper to taste. Vegans and veterans love this mixture as a stand alone with a good crusty bread as do meat eaters as a condiment or sauce.

Drain the liquid (and discard) from the bell pepper bowl, return bell peppers to bowl… add capers.

Add corn and scallions to the grill. With the corn on the hottest part of the grill and the scallions on the coolest. Close the grill. I prefer to have the corn cut in thirds and wrapped in foil. Close lid. Open in 2 minutes.

Open lid. lay down bruschetta on the coolest part of the grill painted with olive oil. Remove the last onions. Close lid. Open in 2 minutes. Turn bruschetta. Open in 2 minutes. Remove corn, scallions and bruschetta.

Chop the now totally soft and sweet onions with their crispy outside layers. Discard any layers that look "too crispy" because they will be bitter.

Add the onions to the bowl of bell peppers and capers and serve with bruschetta.

Open potato packets and transfer to a bowl.

Present corn wrapped in foil with a side of mexican pepper spice, lime and butter.

And, of course, taste everything and salt and pepper to adjust.