How to Grill Vegetables
The New Bible for Barbecuing Vegetables over Live Fire

Steven Raichlen

May 11, 2021

Workman Publishing Company

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Blurb: Celebrating all the ways to grill green, this mouthwatering, ground breaking cookbook from America’s master griller” (Esquire) shows how to bring live fire or wood smoke to every imaginable vegetable. How to fire-blister tomatoes, cedar-plank eggplant, hay-smoke lettuce, spit-roast brussels sprouts on the stalk, grill corn five ways—even cook whole onions caveman-style in the embers. And how to put it all together through 115 inspired recipes. Plus chapters on grilling breads, pizza, eggs, cheese, desserts and more. PS: While vegetables shine in every dish, this is not a strictly vegetarian cookbook—yes, there will be bacon.

Purchase Links:
Amazon | Shop your local indie bookstore

Steven Raichlen, the author of How to Grill Vegetables, makes it quite clear that this cookbook and grilling guide is not vegan nor vegetarian. However, with the exception of two recipes that rely on bacon or prosciutto to hold things together, the recipes are a good fit for the double v’s. And, with other recipes that incorporate bacon or other meats, he offers alternatives to make them vegan. This makes me a happy camper with a grill.

How to Grill Vegetables is a pictorially lovely book with a great guide on different grilling methods and an end section Racihlen’s titled “A Vegetable Abecedarian” that lists vegetables, indicates how they should be prepped and then the different ways they can be grilled.

Since I’ve been vegetarian, I haven’t been a grilling aficionado (gasp), mostly because I really didn’t know what I was looking for in grilling veggies. While there was the mainstay of grilling corn, which is probably the most flavorful of preparing corn (there are several variations of grilled corn here, btw), I tried tofu but wasn’t initially impressed and never expended much effort in correcting that initial experience. This book is a gamechanger. There’s even a tofu recipe!

From grilled brussels to leeks to potatoes, I see the endless possibilities here. The Gaucho Breakfast that incorporates grilled portobellos with eggs (minus the crispy ham) and golden raisin chimichurri sounds like a huge treat for the tastebuds. Armenian Potato Kebabs are on my list of must tries–probably sometime in the next week.

A lot of interesting sauces accompany the grilled veggies so that these dishes really become a flavorful experience. Poblano crema anyone?

Some–a few, not many–of the recipes seem a little fiddly and I just can’t see firing up the grill to cook them, but that’s where my not being a real grill person comes into play. I can definitely see people who love their grills and smokers taking every opportunity to make some of these recipes.

Another thing I’ve not tried is dessert on the grill, although I’m sure that I’ve eaten a grilled fruit at one point or another. However, I’m intrigued by the Hasselback Apple recipe that is served with a ginger-rum butter. Yum.

How to Grill Vegetables arrives just in time for Memorial Day grilling and the summer. It’s time to grill a little green and I’m looking forward to it.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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rating: 

5 out of 5 butterflies

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