This is how you get a veggie-hater to eat veggies.
Really, who is going to say no to the best grilled vegetables?
It’s works, I swear. It worked on me!
Sometimes it even works on Max who right now deems slices of pepperoni and bananas and peanut butter toast balanced meals for days on end.
MY OTHER RECIPES
And it’s easy! It’s also up to you.
You only need a few things.
Summer garden veggies of your choice, of course. I like to go with a variety of peppers. Some zucchini. Maybe mushrooms. You want to grill veggies that can be chopped into uniformly-sized pieces for the perfect choppedness.
The perfect choppedness is a thing, by the way.
Now… one of the reasons that these veggies are SO SO SO good is because we are drenching them (in a, uh,good way?) in a fresh basil vinaigrette. YEP.
The basil vinaigrette can go two ways.
Obviously – dress your veggies! Drizzle it on right before serving.
Or, like a dip. Take your veggies and dip them in. It’s reeeeeally delish and also works because everyone loves a good dip.
Yes yes, now I’ve made some marinated grilled veggies before. You can dip them in this avocado whipped feta (see? It really is all about the dip!) and go.to.town.
These ones here are a bit simpler and make for the perfect topping on salads, tacos, or can even be thrown into pastas and stuff like that. You can totally meal prep them for those reasons!
The kicker, the best part of the recipe, i.e. the thing that reeeeeally sells people on these veggies, is the grilled bread.
I mean, WHO is going to say no to grilled bread? I don’t even really care about bread (it’s not my poison of choice, if you will) and I would never say no to grilled bread. So toasty and golden and crunchy and maybe even buttery. Oooooh it’s divine.
So yes, it’s like a grilled veggie chopped salad (which is always the best kind of salad) and it’s a fabulous summer dinner, side dish or appetizer and it absolutely 100% means that you still have room for cookies or rosé. Or both.
Grilled Chopped Veggies with Garlic Toast
Ingredients:
- 1 red pepper pepper
- 1 orange bell pepper
- 1 green bell pepper
- 1 zucchini squash
- 1 red onion
- 12 ounces baby portobello mushrooms
- pinch of salt
- pinch of pepper
- 1 loaf sourdough bread, sliced
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- fresh basil and oregano, for topping
fresh basil vinaigrette
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
- 1 1/2 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1/3 cup olive oil
Directions:
Preheat your grilled to the highest setting. Once the bread is sliced, stir together the olive oil and garlic and brush it on the bread slices.
While the grill is heating, I like to cut the vegetables into large pieces – ones that are manageable on the grill and won’t fall through the grates (if you’re not using a grill pan!) – but remember that we will chopped them after they are grilled! Sprinkle the veggies with the salt and pepper.
Once the grill is hot, place the vegetables on the grates and grill for about 5 to 6 minutes, tossing often and monitoring the veggies the entire time. Remove the veggies from the grill and place them on a sheet pan. To grill the bread, place it on the grill and grill about 1 to 2 minutes per side. Keep an eye on it as the grill time will depend on where it is placed and how hot the grill is!
Once the bread is finished, chop the veggies so they are mostly even in size and place them all in a bowl.
Drizzle the basil vinaigrette on the veggies and toss well. Top with a handful of fresh basil and oregano.
Serve the whole mess with the grilled bread and devour it!
basil vinaigrette
In a bowl, whisk together the vinegar, basil, garlic, honey, mustard, salt, pepper and pepper flakes. Whisk in the olive oil until the dressing is emulsified. This stays great in the fridge!
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And it’s kind of rainbow-ish too!
