Grilling Green

Move over, meat. Fresh vegetables are the safer centerpiece for your next barbecue.

Andrea Chesman
9/2007

Nothing says Labor Day quite like the aroma of food grilling over an open flame, a gentle breeze riffling the red-and-white checked cloth on the picnic table. Add a glass of chilled white wine and some good friends and the living is easy. Or it was. Until news reports told us that high heat, dripping fat, and even the beloved aromatic smoke involved in grilling meat, poultry, or fish exposes the food-and whoever eats it-to such carcinogens as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heterocyclic amines (HCAs). Now the latest research out of Mount Sinai School of Medicine links grilling animal products with another acronym: AGEs (advanced glycation end products), a class of damaging compounds that build up in the body over time and increase the risk of developing diabetes or Alzheimer's. Food cooked over a flame may awaken a primitive hunger, but evidence suggests that those grilled meats don't love us back.

Don't hang up your tongs just yet, though. Skip the meat and use fresh vegetables instead. They lack the fat and protein necessary to form carcinogens, so you can satisfy your primordial cravings without possibly endangering yourself or your guests.

It's easy to build an entire menu with barbecued vegetables and other vegetarian options such as tempeh, tofu, tortillas, and even fruit. And the season begins early, when ramps or wild leeks are abundant. Simply brush them with olive oil, grill, then lightly dust with coarse salt for a delicate treat. Next up is asparagus, which deserves the same nofuss treatment. When summer arrives and the garden is brimming with fresh produce, break out the grill rack (a flat plate with a grid of holes placed over the grate), and grab a mix of whatever happens to be ripe (cauliflower, green beans, summer squash, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, peppers, baby carrots, broccoli), dice it up so it cooks evenly, and toss it on the rack. Without a grill rack, use longer, sturdier vegetables such as asparagus, sliced eggplant, portobello mushrooms, and corn on the cob.

For a late-summer menu, add grilled zucchini to a Greek salad, barbecue some tempeh for sandwiches piled high with homemade coleslaw, or layer lasagna with diced grilled onions, peppers, eggplant, zucchini, and broccoli instead of ground beef. And as the shadows lengthen into September, remember that barbecue season doesn't end when the weather turns chill: Wrap potatoes, winter squash, rutabagas, and beets in foil and grill them, too.

Grilling Tips

Make sure your grill is adequately hot: When you can hold your hand about two inches above the grill grate and keep it there for only two to three seconds, your grill is ready.
Work with small batches of food when cooking with a grill rack (about $15; available wherever grilling utensils are sold) so the heat circulates around the vegetables, allowing them to grill rather than steam.
Stay with your vegetables as they are grilling. They should be nicely browned, not blackened.
Keep in mind that cooking times in grilling recipes are only guidelines and will vary depending on the weather, the distance between the food and the fuel source, and the model of your grill. Ripe vegetables will cook faster than underripe vegetables, and vegetables high in sugar (such as carrots, beets, and sweet potatoes) will char quickly, so use your judgment to decide when a vegetable is done.
Coat vegetables with extravirgin olive oil, a marinade, or an oil-based salad dressing before grilling. Oil can be flavored with herbs, garlic, and salt and pepper.
Flavor your vegetables with fresh herbs-many spices become bitter when grilled.
Use firm (or extra-firm) tofu, and keep it from sticking to the grill by drying it in a clean cloth or paper towels and squeezing out excess moisture. Then brush it with an oil-based mixture and grill on a vegetable-grilling rack. The flat surface will enable you to force a thin metal spatula under the tofu to turn it. Grill until a good crust has formed before attempting to flip it.
Grill fruit over medium to low heat to avoid charring. Make sure your grill is scrupulously clean to avoid imparting other flavors to delicate fruit