Winter Grilled Vegetables

Ingredients
  • 1 Zucchini
  • 1 Yellow Summer Squash
  • 1 Bunch or 10 Asparagus
  • 1 Bunch Green Onions
  •    Italian Parsley
  •    Olive Oil
  •    Cooking Sea Salt
  •    Tea Spice (or favorite seasoning)
  •    Lemon
Instructions
I frequently make this for breakfast or lunch. It's a very quick meal that requires little cooking skill. You can add other vegetables to the mix as desired. Just be careful not to add items that take far more time to cook than the rest of the mix, like carrots or eggplant. I occasionally add Portobella Mushrooms and Red, Yellow, or Orange Bell Peppers.

Pre-warning: Please open a window or door if your stove does not have a ventilation system.

Start heating grill pan before preparing the vegetables. The slight burn, grill marks come from the super heated pan. 

Grab a nice size bowl, and the veggies. 
  1. Cut of the ends of the Asparagus, then cut in half, place in the bowl. 
  2. Quarter or flatly slice the zucchini and summer squash, add to bowl.
  3. Remove the ends of the green onions, then decide how much of the darker green leafy part you want. The green end cooks very fast, but adds nice flavor. I tend to cut a couple of inches above the white onion bulb. Then half the onion for a flat edge to grill.
  4. Once all the items are in the bowl (should take about 5 minutes), the grill pan should be nice and hot. Ready for the mix.
  5. Add Olive Oil to the veggies in the bowl, a pinch of cooking salt, and the Tea Spice or Italian Seasoning.
  6. Mix until all vegetables are covered, then dump them in the pan.

When the vegetables hit the pan, you should hear a nice hissing sound. If not the pan wasn't hot enough. Either way, spread the vegetables out rapidly so they cover the pan, then leave alone for 2 to 4 minutes.

Check a piece of squash first. If it has a nice visible grill mark and looks ready to turn, then turn and re-spread all the vegetables with your tongs. 

I grill until veggies are sweating, warm, with grill marks, but still firm. Typically, no longer than 5-8 minutes. I've seen others grill up to 15 minutes. It's up to you. 

Serves: 2 to 4 Depending on if it's the main dish or a side.

Plate-Up. When plating, I'll sprinkle a little bit of a finishing salt (Das Salt's: Fleur de Sel) then the fresh parsley. You can also add lemon and or butter. Eat immediately.

Calorie Counters. This is a pretty low-cal meal if you are on a diet. But be careful with the oil amounts. Each tablespoon of Olive Oil has more calories than most of the veggies combined (about ~120 cal per Tbsp). So just add enough to coat the veggies for better grilling. For veggies listed with oil, total calories is approx. 180, or 90 calories per serving if plated for 2; 45 calories per serving if plated for 4.

Tea Spice. One of my favorite seasonings. It's a mix of green tea, salt, lemongrass, ginger, garlic powder, parsley, sugar, and white pepper. Works well on meats, vegetables, and salads. But a nice Italian Seasoning works well.