Translated material
How to cook shish kebab without meat?
Spring has arrived. And the May holidays. Many people like to have picnics with a grill or barbecue at this time. Last year, Sergey Parkhomenko spoke in detail about how to make kebabs and focused on meat recipes, but this time we decided to write in detail about other options. Fortunately there are a lot of them.
Not only that. You can cook a wide variety of foods on the grill and barbecue: vegetables, cheeses, seafood, bread, marshmallows and even fruits.
They are different. But there is something in common: both terms simultaneously mean both the name of the device and the cooking method. Grilling is grilling using high heat over high heat. The grill can be open - then there is almost direct contact of the product with the flame - or closed, when the product is separated from the flame by the frying surface. Barbecue - cooking at medium or low temperature with the addition of a hot smoking process. The product is saturated with the aroma of smoke and gradually baked.
Both. On our usual grill (a box for coals with slots for skewers), you can combine the technology: fry over an open fire or bake over smoldering coals. If you supplement your toolkit with a wire rack and a supply of thick aluminum foil, you can do some amazing things.
Why not. Fish kebab is a good alternative to meat. The general rule here is this: if you want to skewer, choose fattier fish. Salmon, fatty trout, tuna, mackerel, burbot, whitefish, halibut - they are all quite suitable.
Fish for barbecue must be cleaned of scales, fins removed and fillets cut out (or immediately buy ready-made fish). There is no need to marinate the fillet - just cut it into square pieces measuring approximately 4x4 centimeters, thread them tightly onto skewers, add salt and pepper and cook over hot coals for about 10 minutes. No longer - otherwise it will dry out.
It is better to fry it whole on the grill. This is usually a good solution for small fish like sea bream or brook trout. Remove scales, carefully open the belly, remove the entrails and stuff the fish. A filling of finely chopped ginger root, chili pepper, lemon zest and fresh herbs, seasoned with soy or oyster sauce, works well. Stuffed fish can be rubbed with salt and pepper on the outside, wrapped in foil and baked over cooling coals - 20 minutes is enough; or fry over hot coals, placing on the grill. To prevent the fish from sticking to the grill, before you start cooking, rub it thoroughly with salt and leave for 10-15 minutes on a paper towel, then dry thoroughly and brush with oil. It is also better to generously grease the grate in advance and heat it over the coals.
Where there is fish, there are other sea creatures - squid, mussels, shrimp. They are good for grilling because their cooking time is minimal - to prevent the meat from becoming rubbery, do not cook it for more than a few minutes. The maximum is a quarter of an hour for a large squid, put entirely on a skewer. There is no need to salt seafood before cooking. It is better to prepare a dip sauce from 50 milliliters of rice vinegar, the same amount of soy sauce, water, ½ teaspoon of sugar, a few chopped chili pods and a handful of finely chopped green onions.
In the case of seafood, the quality of the source material is especially important. Everything is obvious here - fresh is better than frozen, and it is impossible to “fix” a bad product. If you're planning a barbecue picnic in a place where fresh sea bucks aren't sold, it's best to choose another option. For example, crayfish: you can fry them on coals, whole on skewers (pierce the joint of the head and shell) or pre-clean them by opening the shell and fry only the “fillet” on skewers - the meat from the shell and tail. Traditionally, it is customary to moisten crayfish on coals with beer, but you can do without it - thanks to the thick shell, the heating will be smooth in any case, and the meat will remain juicy.
First, let’s define what vegetables we are talking about. Juicy, fleshy vegetables like zucchini, tomatoes, zucchini, and young squash are good to fry. You can cut them into fairly large pieces (3x4 cm cubes, everything except tomatoes, of course), string them onto skewers, sprinkle with olive oil and fry over hot coals for no longer than 10 minutes. Thick slices of the same vegetables can be grilled on a grill and then seasoned with salt and sprinkled with gremolata - a fresh seasoning made from lemon zest (remove it with a fine grater), chopped parsley and minced garlic.
It is better to cook root vegetables on the grill the old-fashioned way, baking them in foil. We are, of course, not just talking about potatoes: you can bake beets, young turnips, parsnips, and small celery root. Wash them well with a stiff brush and dry; wrap in a double layer of regular thin foil and bury in hot coals. Forget it for a couple of hours.
You can prepare butter noisette for baked root vegetables - place a briquette of butter in a ladle or pan, place it on the coals and wait until it melts and almost “boils”. Raise high on a wire rack and heat until butter begins to lightly brown. Immediately remove from heat - this melted butter will acquire a light caramel-nut flavor.
A product that you probably wouldn't think of frying is salad. Meanwhile, some types of salad can also be cooked on the grill or on a grill with a grate. For example, romaine lettuce, Chinese cabbage or kale. A whole head of cabbage should be cut in half lengthwise, brushed with olive oil and placed on the grill with the cut side down. Fry over moderately hot coals for 10-15 minutes, then remove, add salt, season with lemon juice and yogurt sauce with chopped herbs or capers.
Yes. True, not any cheese is suitable for frying, but only varieties with a high melting point: for example, Greek halloumi or the familiar (and still available) suluguni. To fry the cheese, take thinner skewers, cut it into cubes and string them not close to each other. You can also fry on a grate covered with thick aluminum foil - in this case, we seem to imitate a flat, closed grill.
Grilled cheese requires a fresh herbal sauce - you can make it ahead of time by blending spinach with cilantro, mint, sage (choose your favorite options), a little vegetable oil and a pinch of salt.
The most different. Fruits are an extremely beneficial product for frying: they contain a lot of sugar, which means they are easily covered with an appetizing sweet caramel crust. In fact, this is precisely the essence of roasting as a process - caramelizing the outer shell of the product. Nectarines, peaches, and plums are best suited for fruit shish kebab. They can be skewered whole - or cut in half, remove the pit and place on the grill. It is good to fry pineapple, strawberries, and bananas on thin skewers.
Citrus fruits are not very suitable for grilling, with a small exception: along with the fish, you should put several halves of Abkhazian lemons (their other name is Meyer lemons) on the grill. The juice from this roasted lemon is the best all-purpose seasoning.
This is possible, but there are more interesting options. Bread requires a wire rack. The general rule is to do everything to prevent the bread from drying out during the process, that is, keep it well moistened and fattened. Take a classic white loaf, cut into slices. Brush each slice with butter on both sides and place on the grill to sear on one side. Turn over, place a generous piece of cheese on every other slice (here the cheese can be any kind), cover with bread, leaving the uncooked side on top, and press into the grill. Fry the resulting cheese toasts well on both sides until they are covered with a golden crust and the cheese from the inside begins to leak slightly.
Another option is sweet French toast, which will go well with the fried fruit from the point above: beat a couple of eggs with ½ cup of cream and a spoonful of sugar and soak the same slices of sliced loaf in this mixture. Fry them on the grill, top with skewered plums and a scoop of ice cream.
Yes! In the American tradition, this is marshmallow - a spongy soft marshmallow made from sugar with gelatin and glucose syrup. However, the familiar marshmallows, made from egg whites and applesauce, are fried no worse, and maybe even better. Soft marshmallows fry in a matter of seconds, and marshmallows can easily be strung on a skewer and placed over cooling coals for 10 minutes, turning occasionally. As a result, the crust will caramelize and acquire a golden color, and the pulp inside will become viscous.
The Essential New York Times Grilling Cookbook
An English-language collection of the best grilling recipes published in The New York Times food columns over the past 100 years. In addition to impressive and comprehensive chapters on cooking meat, it contains sections on fish, seafood, vegetables, desserts, marinades and sauces, as well as additional texts - for example, “100 simple ideas on what and how to grill.”
The collection of grilling recipes is unique in that meat is not given the leading role here: the authors pay more attention to vegetables, sauces, and dough dishes (which can also be grilled!).
Author: Vika Boyarskaya, chef, gastronomic journalist