Just Grill It: Summer Squash and Zucchini
June 3, 2008 by Heather
Heather says:
I love zucchini. It’s one of those plants I don’t have to grow to reap the benefits. As the season turns toward summer local gardeners may have more than they know what to do with. In fact August 8th is “Sneak Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor’s Porch Night.” Friends and neighbors, I am here to tell you I’ll gladly take extra zucchini off your hands and you don’t have to wait until August.
This technique is simple and can be done so quickly I recommend waiting until your main course is done before placing the vegetables on the grill.
If you would like to marinate the vegetables do so for only 20 - 25 minutes. Otherwise they will soak up too much flavor and acidity and lose a lot of their natural flavors. Marinades should complement a food, not disguise it completely.
Grilled Zucchini and Summer Squash
Ingredients:
- Zucchini and summer squash (ratios and amount are completely up to you)
- olive oil
- kosher or sea salt
Heat your grill. A gas grill should be set on low and if you are using a charcoal grill you should be able to hold your hand six inches above the grate for 10 seconds.
If you would like, spray the grill lightly with nonstick, high temperature cooking spray (Pam for Grilling, for example)
Slice the zucchini and squash into 1/4″ to 1/2″ pieces. You’ll want to slice the vegetables at an angle rather than a crosscut which would result in circles. Unless of course you enjoy picking vegetables out of the grate and coals.
Toss the vegetables with a small amount of olive oil. Sprinkle lightly with kosher salt and place on the grill. Turn with tongs after two minutes and allow to cook an additional 2 - 3 minutes. Yes, it’s that simple.
Enjoy.
I don’t eat much veggies. But if you grill them, I would definitely eat them!
Oh my, it seems that I keep reading lots of recipes today. Now, I’m so hungry.
I’ll try this out!
I loved grilled zucchini or yellow squash. If you have any chili oil (which I keep on hand for asian type stuff) a little of that mixed in with the olive oil is fabu!
What a wonderful idea! I am growing some squash this year and wasn’t quite sure how I would fix it.. Any suggestions on a good marinade?
I absolutely love these! We will sometimes put them in a foil packet with some onions, olive oil, Kosher salt and black pepper. Yummy!
OK can your crack research team answer this one? I met a guy at a garage sale this weekend who was selling his $700 grill (that he only used one year) because the tanks for it were too expensiveto fill ($18) !!! He bought a grill that he could hook up to the natural gas from his home. This didn’t make sense to me. I realize that prices will very across the country but could it really be that much cheeper to use the natural gas if you include the cost of yet another new grill????? Pam, South Bend
I did this for dinner last night with some local squash and zuchinnis I picked up from Earth Fare. Very yummy.
I would just add that if you’re going to spray something like PAM on the grill, dont’ do it while the grill is over the coals or gas flame unless you want some fun pyrotechnics :). sure, that may be a no-brainer for most people, but there are always a few that forget.
I have always loved grilling vegetables, and especially zuchinni. I look forward to trying the summer squash, thanks for the grilling idea!