So I recently bought a barbecue and have been using it often to cook hamburger, chicken and sometimes steak. But I'm wondering if anyone has some good ideas for what else would be good to barbecue? Willing to try just about anything as long as the price is not absolutely insane. If you have a recipe to go with it, I would greatly appreciate if you could share as well.
Vegetables, especially corn on the cob and potatoes, are great on the grill. Lamb is good also. Just about anything and everything you can think of is good to grill. You can even stir fry on a grill if you have a cast iron skillet, or make soup with a cast iron dutch oven. If you can get a grill oven you can make biscuits too.
You will be surprised at how delicious grilled pineapple is. Cut it into spears, and leave it on long enough to get the grill marks. It is juicy and sweet, and something about the cooking brings the sweet flavor out more.
I am mostly a vegetarian and really enjoy barbecued sweet potatoes, zucchinis, carrots and many other vegetables. Occasionally I also barbecue fresh fish that I season with sea salt, ginger, fresh herbs and a nice, organic soy sauce. I have also experimented with barbecuing bananas in their skin and then served them with a chili-infused hot chocolate sauce. The possibilities are endless.
Artichokes, onions, potatoes, and even tofu are great on the grill. Getting a nice char adds a nice crunch and flavor that goes with most foods. Generally you'd want something that isn't too watery and has a decent bite to it if you want to throw in onto the barbecue.
In some cultures, cleaned chicken intestines, chicken head, gizzards, and pork blood and lungs are being barbecued.. Happy eating!!
Thanks for all the ideas everyone! I don't know why it really didn't occur to me, but grilling most vegetables just sounds absolutely delicious. Is there anything you need to do to prepare the veggies before grilling with seasoning or anything? Or a certain temperature to grill the different veggies/potatoes at? Fish is something else I'm going to try as well. I feel like that will be a lot healthier for my diet as well than barbecuing red meat and chicken
If you've got some leftover polenta that has firmed up, you can slice it and brush it with oil and grill it as well, perhaps along with some grilled vegetables, or if you've got some home made marinara/meat sauce, throw that in a pan on the grill to warm up along with it, then top the polenta with it and garnish with Parmesan/Romano. You can grill slices of poundcake along with some fruits such as pineapple, and serve with a scoop of ice cream I've never tried this, but apparently you can make pizza on the grill as well. Depending on how wide your grates are you may need to par-bake the dough in your standard oven first so it doesn't fall through the grill. Or just get some large good quality flat breads - the ones that are a bit thick and puffy, not the real thin ones. Naan bread would work well too -WalMart sells them fresh in their bakery section. You can even grill up your veggies before making a salsa with them, for a charred smokey taste.
I've tried them before, they're really quite good! In particular gizzards are delicious. I think it just comes with a culture where meat is usually more scarce, hence every part of the animal is consumed. In a way it's a good thing since it promotes less wastage.
Peaches are another fruit that are great grilled and served with ice cream. The grilling caramelizes the sugars in the fruit and brings out the sweetness.
Fish really is excellent on the barbecue, whole fish such as salmon or trout work particularly well. We wrap the fish in damp newspaper with fresh herbs and lemon slices - the flavor is wonderful and the flesh comes out extremely tender and succulent. Jamie Oliver has some excellent recipes for this. Continuing the fruit theme, at a barbecue I attended this summer the hostess served bananas which had been injected with rum and then chargrilled on the barbecue in their skins - what a treat! Definitely naughty but nice
Hmm vegetables like corn, carrots, and bell peppers! You can also try grilling seafood. I heard that seafood tastes nice when grilled. For instance, I love grilled squid. Just stuff the squid with onion and tomatoes then season it with salt and pepper! Voila!
Grilled Fish Try the fish. Fresh seafood fish don't need much seasoning, just add salt, add pepper, and they're ready to be grilled. You could also serve the fish with lemon and diced chili, if you have them around. Another good idea is to create the sauce for the fish. You can make sweet sauce, sour sauce or spicy sauce. Add a side bowl of simple salsa and you can pass around some tortilla chips while waiting for the fish to be ready.
