If I were to come up with an eau de summer, there are a few must-hit notes: spray-on sunscreen, post-storm petrichor, and the sweet smokiness of just-grilled veggies.
But since I have little more than a small fire escape to call outdoor space, my aspirations to grill out in the open are limited by building codes and a vigilant super. I do not worry. With my cast iron grill pan, I can still achieve those coveted, polished hatch marks when the urge for charred zucchini or eggplant hits.
Whatever your home grilling setup — a decked-out outdoor island or a portable camping grill — a platter of grilled veggies can imbue the simplest of diners with the kind of summer whimsy usually reserved for long beach days.
While you could just throw some lightly oiled produce on the grill and call it a day, I always strive to maximize my levels of summer whimsy. Here are a few techniques for doing just that.
Skewers, baby! Do things just taste better when eaten off a stick? I think that certainly applies to eggplant and zucchini. Even cheese! If using wooden skewers, make sure to soak them in water for 30 minutes before putting them on the grates. For even cooking, cut your veggies into uniform pieces and group ingredients by texture and thickness, rather than piling on a rainbow of veggies that end up at different speeds.
Marinate… after grilling. Season the veggies with nothing more than salt, pepper, and olive oil before they hit the grill, and you’ll save time without sacrificing flavor. That’s because while the veggies are sizzling, you can put together a quick bath of olive oil, sherry vinegar, whole grain mustard, and shallots to set it all in. Once browned and tender, vegetables such as radicchio, broccolini and eggplant will be the spicy dressing.
Serve vegetables with a agrodolce sauce and creamy cheese. A platter of grilled tomatoes, corn, asparagus, and peppers instantly becomes a casual dinner party centerpiece when drizzled with a sweet-spicy sauce punctuated by golden raisins and presented alongside masses of burrata. More montage than anything, this recipe has readers shouting praise in the comments: “Wow,” wrote one reader, Rianne. “I’ve tried NYT cooking recipes before, but none of them have blown my mind as much as this one.”
Instead, could I make her recipe for a layered vanilla chiffon cake drenched in charred citrus juices and layered with a charred citrus compote, granola-like sesame crunch, and toasted sesame buttercream for my own birthday next month? Signs point to yes.
Despite the pie’s many components, her charming video tutorial on the DailyExpertNews Cooking YouTube makes the whole thing not only doable, but extremely fun.
Thanks for reading, and see you next week!
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