Dr Oz: How To Grill Vegetables
While visiting to share her best tips and tricks for grilling meat and seafood, Julia Collin Davison from America’s Test Kitchen stuck around to share a few secrets for grilling vegetables. Dr Oz loves to barbecue so much he’ll even grill food during the winter. However, he can’t stand when he’s trying to grill vegetables and they keep falling through the grate.
Fortunately, Julia had a few hacks to solve that exact problem. One thing she doesn’t like are those grill baskets. She explained that when grilling vegetables you want your veggies to be able to actually touch the grill to get that char and flavor. Those baskets will actually just steam your veggies, not grill them. Another technique many people turn to is a kebob, but the problem is that meat and vegetables don’t cook at the same rate. You can separate the meat skewers and the vegetable skewers for more even cooking. Just be sure to brush with oil and season with salt and pepper before grilling for optimal flavor.

This Caesar Salad recipe will change the way you think about grilled vegetables. It just may be your new favorite salad recipe! (kaythaney / Flickr)
However, the key to grilling vegetables is…
Dr Oz: How To Slice Vegetables For Grilling
For the perfect grilled vegetables, it’s all about knife skills. According to Julia, you want to think about surface area so that you’re cutting big pieces of vegetables that won’t fall through the cracks. For example, slice a zucchini lengthwise instead of into coins. As for peppers, first slice off the top then the bottom. Make a slice down the side and open it up to remove all the ribs and seeds. Then you have one big flat piece that you can lay on the grill.
Next, have you ever had grilled salad? You’ll want to devour the recipe on the following page…
Dr Oz: Grilled Caesar Salad Recipe Ingredients
- 1 garlic clove – minced
- 1/2 C Parmesan cheese – grated
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 anchovy fillets – rinsed
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 (12-inch) baguette – cut into 5-inch long and 1/2-inch thick slices
- 1 garlic clove – peeled
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 C mayonnaise
- 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 C extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 romaine lettuce hearts – halved lengthwise
Dr Oz: Grilled Caesar Salad Recipe Directions
- Combine the lemon juice and minced garlic in a bowl and let sit for 10 minutes
- Process the mayonnaise, 1/4 C Parmesan cheese, Worcestershire, the lemon-garlic mixture, mustard, salt, anchovies, and pepper in a blender for 30 seconds
- While the blender is running, slowly pour in 1/4 C olive oil
- For a charcoal grill, open the bottom to vent completely, then light a large chimney starter filled with charcoal briquettes (six qts). When the top oils are partially covered with ash, pour evenly over half the grill. Set the cooking grate in place, then open the lid vent completely and heat the grill for about 5 minutes until hot.
- For a gas grill, turn all the burners on high, cover, and heat the grill for about 15 minutes until hot, then leave all the burners on high
- Clean and oil the cooking grate
- Brush the bread slices with oil and grill, uncovered, about one minute per side until browned
- Transfer to a platter and rub with a garlic clove
- Brush the cut sides of the romaine with the rest of the dressing then put half of the romaine, cut side down, on the grill
- Grill, uncovered, about 1-2 minutes until lightly charred
- Move to a platter with the bread and repeat
- Drizzle the romaine with the dressing and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese then serve
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