Adler & Fertig's Knife and Fork Grilled Vegetable Salad

By BobD

Both residents of barbecue-mad Kansas City, Adler and Fertig are the authors of The BBQ Queens' Big Book of Barbecue. Even when they're grilling vegetables, as for this hearty salad drizzled with lemon vinaigrette, these BBQ Queens prefer using a gas grill with lots of power—at least 40,000 BTUs

Ingredients

• 1 garlic clove, halved
• Kosher salt
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 1 large onion, sliced 1/2 inch thick
• 2 small eggplants, sliced crosswise 1/2 inch thick
• Two 6-ounce zucchini, sliced crosswise 1/2 inch thick
• Two 6-ounce yellow squash, sliced crosswise 1/2 inch thick
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 1 large head romaine lettuce (1 1/4 pounds), quartered lengthwise
• 1/4 pound fresh goat cheese, crumbled (1 cup)

Details

Servings 4
Cooking time 35mins
Adapted from foodandwine.com

Preparation

Step 1

Light a grill. In a mortar, pound the halved garlic to a paste with 1 teaspoon of salt. Stir in 3 tablespoons of the olive oil and the lemon juice.

In a small skillet, cook the pine nuts over moderate heat until toasted, about 3 minutes.

Thread the onion slices onto two parallel 10-inch skewers. Put the eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash slices on 2 large rimmed baking sheets; brush both sides with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Brush the bell peppers and lettuce with olive oil. Grill the vegetables over a medium hot fire, turning occasionally, until lightly charred and just tender. The onions will take about 5 minutes per side; the eggplant, zucchini and squash, about 3 minutes per side; the peppers, about 3 minutes on each of 4 sides; the lettuce wedges, about 1 minute per side. Scrape the charred skin from the peppers, discard the stems and seeds and cut into strips.

Put a lettuce wedge on each plate. Mound the vegetables on the lettuce and sprinkle with the cheese and toasted pine nuts. Pass the lemon vinaigrette at the table.