Gourmet grilling

Vegetarian Journal, May-June, 2002 by Nancy Berkoff

Lemon juice makes a good base for grilling marinades. Use a simple lemon juice and olive oil blend, or get a little fancier and mix lemon juice, hot sauce, onion, dry mustard, and paprika. And to sweeten the deal, try pineapple juice, soy sauce, lemon juice, and garlic with seitan or firm vegetables. Orange juice, turmeric, ginger, garlic, and lemon zest make a light marinade for summer squash or tofu. Experiment with some of your favorite salad dressings as grilling marinades. If you are in the mood to cook, saute some celery, onions, carrots, oil, parsley, thyme, basil, and black pepper. Once the onions and carrots are soft, put the mixture in a blender and use the puree as a marinade. Or you can stew and puree dried apricots or nectarines, onions, garlic, curry powder, vinegar, and cayenne and use it as a marinade.

Most vegetarian ingredients do not need to marinate for long periods of time. Look at the texture of the ingredient to decide on marinating time. Mushrooms, summer squash, sweet onions, and extra firm tofu may only need 30-40 minutes to marinate. Tougher ingredients, such as seitan, tempeh, sliced carrots, potatoes, or winter squash can marinate for a couple of hours.

All kinds of veggie foods can be grilled. Beets take on an inky glaze and their sweetness is magnified with the grilling. Potatoes get crisp on the outside and stay sweet and moist on the inside. Tofu, tempeh, and seitan take on a smokiness that enhances their flavors. Imagine tempeh marinated in white wine and tarragon, grilled with roasted beets and roasted white potatoes. How about portobello mushrooms marinated in balsamic vinegar and basil, with a skewer of roasted tomatoes, summer squash, and sweet potatoes!

Grilling can add a new elegance to ingredients. Grilled eggplant slices stand regally on the plate and satiny portobello mushrooms attain a smoky richness on the grill. Marinated, grilled seitan or tempeh, paired with braised greens and sun-dried tomato pasta, is reminiscent of nights on the Mediterranean coast. Be sure to grill several extra portions so you can serve your gourmet grilled dish chilled the next day.

Grilled items can also serve as excellent accent points to traditionally cooked foods. Wrap sweet onions and tomatoes in foil and allow to simmer down to a smoky goodness. Serve them, chopped, over pasta or couscous with some fresh basil. Add a skewer of grilled carrots, mushrooms, and peppers as a garnish for three-bean soup, or grilled pineapple, pears, and apples to a white bean chili. You can grill all the traditional ingredients for salsa--tomatoes, chilies, onions, and peppers--and create a roasted tomato salsa.

If you want more grilling hints, try . This is the website of Steven Raichlen, the renowned grilling guru who has written many books and done many television shows on grilling. Raichlen's site is not all vegetarian, but it does have tips on grilling vegetables and general information on grilling equipment.