Grilling Tips From The Vegan Party Guy

Summer Has Arrived!

There is nothing better than the taste of grilled food! The right seasoning can make the natural flavor explode without necessarily adding calories or unwanted fat!

Cu-cauliflower Pecan Garden Salad Recipe

This salad is easy to make and will become a summertime favorite! They key vegetables in this recipe are two garden favorites, cucumber and cauliflower! 

This salad is easy to make and will become a summertime favorite! They key vegetables in this recipe are two garden favorites, cucumber and cauliflower! 

If you are a foodie or just love to eat vegetables, you most likely will come across English cucumbers and Persian cucumbers at some point. Both are considered to be less bitter and are “burpless”. The Persian cucumbers are shorter than the English and are both rapidly becoming staples in pantries across America!

Ingredients:

• Organic Romaine Lettuce
• Organic Persian cucumbers
• Organic Grape Tomatoes
• Organic Pecans, whole
• Organic Cauliflower
• 1-4 Organic Yellow Onion, sliced
• Organic Dried Cranberries, whole
• Organic Cannellini (White Kidney Beans), rinsed and drained

Dressing:

• 1-4 cup Austria’s Finest Pumpkinseed Oil
• 1-2 cup Organic Apple Cider Vinegar
• Sea salt
• White pepper
• Greek oregano (optional)

Directions:

Toss vegetables in a large salad bowl. Fold cranberries, beans an pecans. In a glass cruet, add the ingredients for the dressing. You can use as much or as little as you wish or simply enjoy the salad bare. If you are planning a large meal, the vegetables can be cleaned and stored in an airtight container that morning without any dressing. Enjoy!

Listen To John’s Tips!

Vegan party guy and best-selling author, John Schlimm shares his tips and recipes in this segment of The Organic View Radio Show, hosted by June Stoyer.

Try John’s Recipes! 

All recipes below have been excerpted from Grilling Vegan Style: 125 Fired-Up Recipes to Turn Every Bite Into a Backyard BBQ by John Schlimm. Copyright ©2012. Available from Da Capo Lifelong Books, an imprint of Perseus Books, LLC, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

Watermelon: It’s The New Steak! 

Tattooed Watermelon Salad Recipe

Believe it or not, watermelon takes to grilling surprisingly well. The grill-inked stripes from the grate look beautiful and wild adorning the deep pink flesh, and they also nicely complement the seasoned arugula. Oftentimes guests, as I do myself, prefer two slices of the watermelon, to make the juicy joy of this fun in the sun rebel last as long as possible, so plan accordingly.

Also, for a change, a sprinkling of smoked sea salt adds a whole other dimension to the dish. 

Ingredients:

• 1 medium-size seedless watermelon  (about 5 pounds)
• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 ample cups arugula leaves, or watercress leaves
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• Smoked sea salt of choice, for
• sprinkling (optional; see headnote)

Directions:

Heat the grill to medium-high. Cut the watermelon into eight 1-inch thick slices. Leave the rind on or cut it off, as you wish. Brush the watermelon flesh with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Grill the watermelon for 2 minutes on each side. Mind the heat; liquid tends to gush out of the watermelon if it gets too hot. When finished, transfer the slices to four to eight plates.

Place the arugula in a medium-size bowl. Toss with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil, then with the balsamic. Divide the arugula either under or over the watermelon slices. Sprinkle the watermelon with the smoked sea salt, if desired, and serve.

YIELD: 4 to 8 servings

Grilled Tomato Suns Recipe

This side dish is the ideal way to add a pop of color and interest to any meal. When tomatoes rise into their peak season, around August, lunge for this recipe! Just be sure the cherry red orbs aren’t too soft, though, or they’ll collapse from overheating (dramatic little divas, aren’t they?).

Ingredients:

• 4 ripe but fairly firm tomatoes,
• halved crosswise
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 8 fresh basil leaves, cut into chiffonade (see note)

Note: To cut basil leaves into a chiffonade, place the leaves in a single stack and roll them up like a cigar. Hold them in place and slice them thinly with a sharp paring knife.

Directions:

Over your kitchen wastebasket or compost bin, use your little finger to wiggle out the tomato seeds and pulp from the pockets inside the tomatoes. 

Heat the grill to high heat. Season the tomatoes well with the kosher salt and pepper, and rub the cut sides with the olive oil. Using a fine grill grate (if possible) or grilling screen, place the tomatoes, cut side down, over high heat. Cover the grill and let the tomatoes cook for about 4 minutes, checking for doneness after 2 minutes. (The rate of cooking will depend on the ripeness of the tomatoes, among a few other factors.) Lift the tomatoes off the grill with a thin metal spatula.

Place the tomatoes on a serving platter, cut side up. Drizzle with a little more olive oil and sprinkle on a bit more salt and pepper. Finish with a showering of basil chiffonade. 

YIELD: 4 to 8 servings

Grilled Corn on the Cob with Lime & Pepper SauceBy now, thanks to the corn recipes on pages 63 and 81, the marvels of grilling these sweet, golden cobs have been well established. Here, a spirited homemade vegan mayonnaise, infused with cilantro, garlic powder, ground pepper, cayenne, and freshly squeezed lime juice, steals the show. Be sure to slather the corn with the sauce as soon as the corn is removed from the grill, and then lose yourself as you work your way down row after row of plump, glistening kernels.

Ingredients:

CORN

• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 3/4 teaspoon chili powder (see note)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 ears corn, husked
• LIME & PEPPER SAUCE
• 1/3 cup vegan mayonnaise
• (store-bought, or see pages 77 and 156)
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro or parsley leaves
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 4 teaspoons freshly squeezed
• lime juice
• Note: If you can’t find a good chili powder, just add another 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne.

Directions:

Heat the grill to medium. Prepare the corn: In a small bowl, stir together the canola oil, chili powder, and salt, and rub the mixture all over the corn. Grill the corn, turning every 2 minutes, for 8 minutes, or until the corn is browning. Meanwhile, make the sauce. In a medium-size bowl, mix the mayonnaise with the remaining sauce ingredients. Coat the corn with the mixture as soon as it’s off the grill and cool enough to handle.

YIELD: 4 servings