MIXED GRILL, ALL VEGETABLES

I thought grilled asparagus had gone out of style, but there it was on the menu at a restaurant where we had lunch on the way to Ronda. Fat, green and juicy, that asparagus was so delicious that I’ve been on a vegetable-grilling kick ever since.

A mixed grill of all vegetables.

It was in La Mancha, a few years back, that I first had a mixed-grill of vegetables served as a starter. Not just asparagus, but sliced eggplant, zucchini, peppers and onions as well, cooked on a plancha, grill pan, or on a parrilla, over coals. Sometimes it was served with sliced serrano ham or salchichón, a dry-cured sausage similar to salami. Sometimes it came with alioli, garlic mayonnaise.

Serve the grilled vegetables as a starter.

A springtime treat! Asparagus grilled on a plancha.

Pan-Grilled Vegetables
Verduras a la Parrilla

Some of the vegetables suitable for pan grilling.

This assortment of pan-grilled vegetables makes a good starter, in place of a salad. Sliced, the grilled vegetables make a great stuffing for a bocadillo (sandwich on a crusty roll), pita or tortilla wraps.

Use a plancha grill pan or---

 

Use a ridged grill pan, a flat griddle (plancha) or a cast-iron skillet. Cooking time will vary for each vegetable, depending on thickness, but all should cook in 10 minutes or less. Grill the eggplant very tender, but allow asparagus and onion to stay somewhat crisp.

The vegetables, hot or room temperature, are delicious with nothing more elaborate than extra virgin olive oil and a squeeze of lemon. However, if you like, serve them with alioli, garlic mayonnaise (recipe below).

---a cast-iron skillet.

Serves 4.

1 medium eggplant (about ¾ pound)
1 medium zucchini (about ¾ pound)
Coarse salt
¼ cup olive oil
1 red bell pepper
8 asparagus spears
1 onion
4 mushrooms, such as portabella, oyster, or porcini
2 firm plum tomatoes, quartered
4 cloves unpeeled garlic
4 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
Parsley or basil sprigs to garnish
Lemon wedges, to serve

Peel the eggplant and cut off the stem end. Cut lengthwise into ¾-inch thick slices. Place in a shallow pan. Trim ends of zucchini and slice it lengthwise into ½-inch thick slices. Place in a single layer in the pan. Sprinkle eggplant and zucchini on both sides with salt. Let them stand 1 hour. Drain the eggplant and zucchini in a colander 15 minutes. Pat dry.

Wipe out the shallow pan. Spread the eggplant and zucchini slices in it. Brush them on both sides with oil. 

To peel or not to peel?

Cut the pepper into quarters, discarding stem and seeds. Use a vegetable peeler to shave outer skins from asparagus. (I tried asparagus both ways--actually prefer unpeeled, although they need a little longer on the grill.)

Cut onion in quarters. Spread pepper, asparagus, onion, mushrooms, tomato, and garlic in another shallow pan and brush them with oil.

Brush a ridged grill pan, flat griddle or cast-iron skillet with oil and heat very hot. Cook each of the vegetables until tender, turning slices with tongs to grill both sides. Eggplant will need about 8-10 minutes; zucchini, 6; asparagus, 8; onion, 5; mushrooms, 8; tomato, 3.

Arrange slices of each vegetable on 4 plates. Sprinkle with coarse salt and drizzle 1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil over each serving. Garnish with parsley or basil. Serve warm or room temperature.

Slice the grilled vegetables and layer them in a sandwich or wrap in a tortilla.

It's a wrap! Yummy.

Alioli with Smoked Pimentón

Garlic mayonnaise with a touch of smoked pimentón--good with all vegetables.

You can use the grilled garlic and a piece of grilled red pepper in this sauce. Use

¾ cup mayonnaise
1-2 cloves garlic
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon smoked pimentón
Pinch of hot pimentón or cayenne
1/8 teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Salt

Combine the mayonnaise and garlic in a blender. Add the oil, pimentón, hot pimentón, cumin and lemon juice and blend until smooth. Stir in the parsley. Add salt to taste.

Pan grilling adds so much flavor to vegetables.

GRILLING ON A PLANCHA

Vegetables grilling on a plancha.

Summer means grilling season. I know that. But rarely do I fire up a charcoal or wood-fired grill for only one or two persons. Instead, I do my grilling on a plancha in the comfort of the kitchen.

Plancha means a metal plate. It’s also the word for “iron,” the sort you iron your clothes with. Nowadays, irons are electric, but I once lived in an old mill house in the country with no electricity. We heated heavy planchas on a gas fire to iron our clothes. I had a pair of them—one to heat while the other was in use. 

But, back to grilling on a plancha. In a tapa bar, a plancha is the same sort of griddle you might find in a fast-food joint for grilling hamburgers. Instead of burgers, the grill meister is cooking tiny squid; whole, unpeeled prawns; slabs of swordfish steak; pork cutlets, and small steaks, basting them with aliño, a mixture of olive oil, garlic, parsley and lemon. I am amazed at the skill, knowing exactly when to turn each piece of food, when to remove it from the grill.

A plancha is a great tool for home cooking. I prefer a heavy, cast-iron grill pan that heats evenly. Especially useful is a reversible one—ridged grill pan on one side, great for steaks, and flat griddle on the other, perfect for fish and shellfish. The plancha sets directly over a gas burner.

Hake steak on a flat plancha.

How to grill on a plancha: Place the plancha over high heat until very hot, about 4 minutes. Then brush the grill with olive oil and sprinkle with coarse salt (same procedure whether using a flat or ridged grill pan). Place food to be grilled on the plancha. Keep the heat on high to get a good sear on the food. Don’t move it around. Then turn it.

Timing is the tricky bit, just as it is with grilling on charcoal. It takes some practice to know when to turn the food, when to take it off the grill.

Chicken breasts on a ridged grill pan.

If you don’t have a plancha, substitute a large cast iron skillet. An extractor fan helps to draw out the smoke from grilling, but you might set off the smoke alarm in any case. By the way, any of the foods cooked on a plancha can also be cooked a la parilla, on a charcoal or wood-fired grill.

What I most like about plancha cooking is that it doesn’t need a whole lot of pre-planning—no marinades, rubs, brines required. But, plancha-grilled foods really do need a sensational sauce. Romesco sauce with grilled shrimp. Alioli (garlic-olive oil mayonnaise) with griddled lamb chops or rabbit. Piquillo pepper sauce with fish. Here’s a bunch more.

Aliño
Sauce for Grilled Foods

This simple sauce is spooned over grilled foods immediately before serving. Use it with griddled baby cuttlefish, grilled chicken breast or any fish fillet. The sauce can also be used as a marinade or basting sauce. Keep it handy when you´re grilling meat, poultry and fish.

Aliño in the making.

2 cloves chopped garlic
½ cup chopped parsley
3 tablespoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and stir to mix. Use at room temperature. Sauce may be kept, covered and refrigerated, for up to one week.

Grilled hake and vegetables, drizzled with aliño.

Mojo Verde
Green Chile Sauce with Cilantro

This spicy Canary Islands sauce is sensational with grilled fish, lamb, or vegetables.

Cilantro, garlic, chiles for mojo verde.

4 cloves garlic
1 green chile, such as jalapeño (or to taste)
½ teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
½ cup chopped parsley
½ cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves
¼ cup olive oil
3 tablespoons wine vinegar
½ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons water
   
Place all ingredients in a blender container and blend until smooth. Sauce keeps, covered and refrigerated, one week.

Squid and sliced potatoes are grilled on a plancha, served with spicy mojo verde. The squid was cut open lengthwise, edges snipped to prevent their curling and grilled whole, then cut in pieces to serve. The potatoes were partially cooked whole, then sliced and brushed with olive oil before placing on the grill pan.

Mojo Picón
Red Chile Sauce

Serve this as a dipping sauce for chips, with grilled chicken or meat.

Piquant mojo picón.

3 tablespoons pimentón (paprika), not smoked
1 fresh red chile, seeded and chopped, or cayenne to taste
4 cloves garlic
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons wine vinegar
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons water

Place all of the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. If desired, thin with a little water. Sauce keeps one week, refrigerated.

Grilled chicken and butternut squash with mojo picón.

Sliced chicken on grilled bread with spicy red chile sauce.

Salsa Cabrales
Cabrales Blue Cheese Sauce

Cabrales is a distinctive blue cheese from Asturias—sharp, but remarkably creamy in consistency. It makes a delightful dressing or dip when thinned with wine or, in the Asturian style, dry cider. It's a classic served with grilled entrecote steaks. But, you know what? I didn't really like the blue cheese sauce with the steak. It was delicious, however, with the potatoes and as a dip with endive leaves.

Makes 2/3 cup

5 ounces Cabrales or other blue cheese
2 tablespoons chopped onions
1/3 cup white wine, cider or cava (sparkling wine)
Pinch of cumin seed

Place the cheese in a blender with onions, wine and cumin seed. Blend until smooth. Serve immediately or keep, covered and refrigerated, up to 3 days.

Ridged grill pan gives a good sear to steak, sliced potatoes.