"grilled vegetables" news and stories

Does it have to be beautiful to love it? No, this is not a Buddhist koan, or even a come-on for an anti-aging cream. It's about looking at something completely blistered and wrinkly with funky indentations and weird curves (I'll leave the imagination to you, and keep the comments clean, people!), and seeing past it to the way a perfectly grilled pepper is going to taste when it's on your plate, mixed into a salad, or sliced and slammed on a crusty roll with onions and, if you're so inclined, a rare and very juicy steak.

Photographer mccun934 calls it "Grumpy Old Man," and maybe there's a bit of Walther Matthau in there somewhere. Happy 5th of July Monday.

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I thought I'd show a little temperance, after yesterday's post on maple-syrup-and-bacon cupcakes. Because, after all, life is not all about seeing how many grams of sugar we can pack into one eensy weensy dessert. But sometimes we wish it were.

Today is going to be all about getting those five servings a day of vegetables. And loving it. OK, grab your skewers. Now brush a little olive oil on some peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, yellow squash, eggplant, onions, mushrooms or any vegetable that turns you on. Then thread them on the skewers and throw them on a grill on medium heat for about eight to ten minutes, as in this recipe (paired with an herb-stuffed trout). When the veggies are charred and still crisp, add with a side of mint-and-cumin couscous you've got dinner.

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Ah, pesto. Moderation flies out the window when it comes to that combo of basil, garlic, olive oil, pine nuts and Parmigiano-Reggiano. Bring it on. Throw a dollop on a baked potato, add another to a plate of fresh fettucine, dip a cracker in it, eat it by the spoonful. Blogger/photographer DeathByBokeh prefers his pesto with grilled vegetables, and we second that motion. Or try Kitchen Daily contributor Adeena Sussman's roasted-vegetable-and-tofu sandwich (pesto slathering called for).

You can use more than one variety of basil to mix up the flavor, as in this Gourmet recipe that uses Italian, bush and lemon basils. And if you're a true pesto fanatic, grow your own basil so you can put up batches of pesto and freeze it, bringing it out in February so that the taste of summer can once again blow your mind.

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Grilled zucchini. Photo: Life's Ambrosia

Meat may be the undeniable star of the grilling show, but zucchini -- when drizzled with olive oil and lightly seasoned like this one from Life's Ambrosia -- pops up during summer months for its 15 minutes (or rather, three months) of fame.

It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating zucchini season by watching the chefs in the Gourmet test kitchen make the most of the versatile veggie. Now, as we creep slowly toward the end of August and, sadly, the culmination of zucchini's prime season it's time to throw the last -- and the best -- of the summer squash on the barbie so it can go out in style. Because no matter how good a vegetable is on its own, everything is better with those glorious grill lines.

[Via Life's Ambrosia]

Snag more expert grilling tips from AOL Food.