Grilled Marinated Vegetables

Grilled Marinated Vegetables

• 8 medium tomatoes
• 2 medium zucchinis
• 2 medium yellow squash
• 1 pound button mushrooms
• 1 medium eggplant
• 1/2 pound fresh green beans
• 1 pound fresh asparagus
• 3 medium red peppers
• 3 medium yellow peppers

For the marinade (or substitute your favorite bottled dressing)

• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 4 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 Tablespoons fresh basil, chopped

Directions

First, make the marinated tomatoes. Refrigerate. Prepare the remaining vegetables. Slice the squash and the eggplant lengthwise about 1/4 inch thick. Do this carefully in order to keep the thickness consistent. Wash and cut the stems off the mushrooms. Discard the stems. Cut the stem end off the green beans and cut about 1/3 off the stalk of the asparagus. Cut the peppers lengthwise into strips, about 8 per pepper.

Place the squash and eggplant in a 13X9 inch glass baking dish and toss with 1/3 of the marinade. Place the mushrooms and peppers together in a large bowl and toss with 1/3 of the marinade.

Blanch the green beans and the asparagus. Fill a large pot with water and 1 tablespoon of salt. Bring the water to a boil. Place the green beans in the pot and set a timer for 3 minutes. Fill a large bowl 2/3 full with ice and water (an ice bath for the vegetables). When the timer goes off remove the beans from the pot with a slotted spoon or kitchen spider and immediately transfer to the ice bath. Now put the asparagus in the pot with the boiling water. I tied my asparagus together with a piece of kitchen twine, so it would be easy to remove them from the water. Set the timer for two minutes. Remove the green beans from the ice bath and drain. add more ice to the ice bath if necessary. After two minutes remove the asparagus from the pot and submerge the spears in the ice bath. Whew! You're done with that.

Drain the asparagus. Place the asparagus and the beans in a bowl and add the remaining 1/3 of the marinade. Toss lightly being careful not to break the tops off the asparagus.

Preheat your grill. It's time to cook the squash, eggplant, peppers, and mushrooms. Place the various vegetables directly on your grill, grilling each side for 2-3 minutes until your get some nice blackened grill markets. When you remove them from the grill go ahead and return them to the same dish you marinated them in. You'll add more of the marinade flavor as they cool in the dish.

You can chill the vegetables in their respective bowls until you are ready to use them or arrange them on a platter prior to chilling.