Scary memories of undercooked, slightly soggy courgette pieces, pinned next to boiling hot baby tomatoes and under cooked mushrooms and onion.
The reason why so many veggie kebabs don't cook properly is that vegetables that cook at different speeds are cubed and packed too tightly together. Here are things that do work for us.
Par-boiled asparagus spears coated in melted butter and finished off on the BBQ.
Thin slices of courgette and aubergine, (a mandolin slicer is great for this) brushed in oil and char-grilled.
Large flat mushrooms (whole or cut into thick slices) and brushed with oil.
Slices or fine segments of fennel (brushed with more oil).
Fine slices of sweet potato.
Young sprouting stems of broccoli (green or purple).
Slices of halumi cheese (again, better when brushed in a little olive oil).
Halves of pepper. These are much nicer really burnt on the skin side then strip the burnt bits off before serving (don't do this under running water as it washes the flavour away).
Flat-bread - http://the-inclusive-cook.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/flat-bread.html If the whim for a BBQ strikes you can bet you don't have any gluten-free rolls in or for miles around! Make the flat bread the normal way, cover one side in hummus (immediately boosting everyones 'five a day' count) and it will wrap up the vegetables and cheese a treat.
Pineapple slices, fresh works best but do be aware that BBQ-ing may not be hot enough to kill the enzymes people might be allergic too. Glazing with honey towards the end can be very nice.
Bananas in the skin. Personally I hate banana but I'm told that injecting them with a spirit such as Tia Maria before cooking makes a great desert for grown ups.
Pears or soft eating apples, push an 'apple slicer' half way down then bring it back up, in the gaps in between the slices shove in tiny pieces of chocolate (if you are vegan this needs to be the high coco, milk free version). Then wrap in kitchen foil and pop straight into the ashes. Be careful unwrapping and allow to cool a little before serving.
A cooking apple with the core removed, fill the middle with home-made mincemeat, wrap in foil and treat as above.
A couple of points to note:
Almost any vegetable will work when sliced thinly and brushed with oil. You fancy pumpkin slices? Make pumpkin slices, they will work. Just make sure your BBQ is hot and ready.
And on that note, BBQs work really well with fatty meat, the fat melts, drips down and keeps the charcoal burning hot and for a long time. Clearly vegetables do not have this sort of fat. To compensate for this you will either need to keep brushing your veg with oil, or get super organised before you start so you can cook really quickly while the coals are still at their hottest, or you can cheat a little and par-boil or part steam your veggies. Or a combination of the 3. For safety's sake never pour oil directly onto the BBQ.
Vegetarian sausages are great but it is rare to get gluten free ones and just as rare to get ones that are palm oil free. You have been warned! Also they all tend to be low in fat so always brush with oil and never cook from frozen as the outside will be burnt before the middle is hot.
Finally I know very little about cooking meat but I do know about ingredients. If you are cooking for a gluten-free meat eater (or a meat eater with any other allergy) stick with proper cuts of meat as burgers and sausages in the UK nearly always contain wheat (sometimes called rusk).
And now I'm off to enjoy the last day of summer as going on my experience of previous years 'it feels like autumn already' will start before the week is out ESPECIALLY as I've written a post all about BBQ - blame it all on me!
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