grilled vegetables | Cooking in College

It feels great to get back to blogging. We took a bit of a break last month and even took a vacation to the Finger Lakes! We did some canoeing, hiking, roasting marshmallows, and yes lots of wine tasting! It was nice to be disconnected from the world, but all good things come to an end.

Today’s recipe is an original that we made up on the spot when we had some leftover vegetables on hand. Of course we had to use the grill (what else is better in the summer than grilling?). Well, we don’t actually have a grill (you may recall this post but it was our roommate Mike’s…), but we do have the next best thing: a griddle! Ours is non-stick and really easy to use so we’ve been using it a lot to make quick meals.

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Summer Grilled Vegetable Pasta

Print this recipe!

As Declan’s Dad would say when he grills: “Cooked to perfection.”

Prep time – 5 minutes
Cook time – 15 minutes
Servings 2 to 3

Ingredients

12 oz spaghetti
1 zucchini
5-6 baby bell peppers
2 ears of corn
2 tablespoons butter
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
Salt and pepper

Protocol

1. Start the water for your pasta and boil according to the packaging instructions.

2. Chop your veggies in the size of big bite size chunks.

3. Heat your grill pan over medium high heat.

4. Once the grill pan is hot, place the veggies onto the grill. Evenly “char” all sides and cook until tender, about 10 minutes. (Once the corn is done, cut the kernels off the cob)

Sauce:

5. In a small sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Saute the garlic for about 2 minutes or until fragrant.

6. Stir in your flour to make a roux and make sure it’s evenly mixed.

7. Pour in the chicken stock and wine and stir (you might have to whisk) until everything is evenly combined. When the sauce starts to bubble, add in the basil and reduce the heat to low. Simmer until thickened and it can coat the back of a spoon.

8. Once everything (pasta, veggies, and sauce) is ready, evenly combine in a large mixing bowl.

9. Top with some cheese and enjoy!

-D&E

We couldn’t just blog about only grilling meat this week and leave out our vegetarian friends! So for today’s post, and to wrap up grilling week, we wanted to show you about grilling vegetables.

Declan is not the biggest fan of vegetables like Erica is, but she still makes him eat them. However, like any red blooded American male, Declan will eat anything that is grilled – like an old shoe or a racoon. So when it comes to grilled vegetables, Declan has no problem eating them.

We wanted to make an entire vegetarian meal out of grilled vegetables so we searched the inter-webs for a recipe and found this one which we adapted from. So without further ado…

Grilled Vegetable Sandwich

Does a sandwich always have to have meat on it? No! This is a perfect example of one that doesn’t…and we guess PB&J counts as another.

Servings – 3 to 4 sandwiches
Prep time – 25 to 30 minutes
Cook time – 20 minutes

Ingredients

1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 to 6 fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/8 cup olive oil
1 red or orange bell pepper
1 small zucchini
1 red onion
1 small yellow squash
4 focaccia rolls, split horizontally

Protocol

1. Follow the same steps in the Grilled Steak post on how to get your grill ready and heated up.

2. While the grill is heating up, slice up your vegetables into thick slices. If they’re thin they’ll fall apart on the grill.

3. In a large mixing bowl, toss the vegetable slices in the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.

4. When the grill is nice and hot, spread your vegetables over the grate, close the lid, and cook for 8 minutes.

5. Open lid, flip the vegetables the best you can, and close lid and cook for another 8 minutes.

6. Tightly roll your basil leaves together length wise (we really hope you don’t have too much experience here), slice from tip to stem, and then give one more chop.

7. In a small bowl, mix mayo, garlic, and basil until even consistency.

8. Check vegetables; if they are not done, flip and continue cooking for another 2 to 3 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

9. Once vegetables are done, remove them from the grill and set aside.

10. Spread mayo mixture on both sides of the sliced focaccia bread and sprinkle on the feta cheese. Place this, cheese side up, on the grill. Close lid and cook until cheese is melted.