 | | | Grilled Vegetable Terrine Photos Susie Iventosch | | | | | | This recipe calls for an assortment of wonderful veggies that all come together with a Mediterranean flair. It's colorful and pretty to look at and delicious to eat. The first thing you should know about this recipe, is that you can use whatever roasted or grilled veggies you like best. We love it with eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms, red bell pepper and red onions, but really any veggie you can grill would work, including tomatoes, summer squash, carrots, and even spinach.
The second thing to know is that every barbecue cooks slightly differently, so you may have to play with the amount of time each vegetable needs to cook. And, of course, each kind of veggie and the thickness of the veggie slices can also affect cooking time.
The key is to slice them fairly thin (about 1/4-inch thick) and cook the veggies to al dente whichever way you do it, either directly on the barbecue grill or in aluminum pans. We like to do some of each, so the veggies mostly cook in the pan, but then the zucchini and eggplant are nice to finish directly on the grill for those iconic stripes. Then stack them, with layers of goat cheese in between. You can also use grated Parmesan or thinly sliced mozzarella. Finally, bake the assembled terrine in the oven just to heat through, or just serve it cold or at room temperature, since the veggies are really cooked after grilling them.
If you don't have a terrine dish, you can easily make this in a bread loaf pan, so don't run out and buy a special pan just for this recipe! And, if you don't want to grill the veggies, you can roast them at 400 F until al dente.
Grilled Veggie Terrine
Ingredients
(Serves 6 as a side dish)
1 large eggplant, thinly sliced lengthwise
2 large zucchini, thinly sliced lengthwise
2 red bell peppers, core and stem removed cut into pieces about 2x3 inches
1 large red onion, sliced
8 large cremini mushrooms, sliced
2 oz. goat cheese, sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
6 basil leaves, thinly sliced
Salt, pepper, and lemon pepper to taste
For garnish: fresh oregano sprig, parsley sprig or basil
DIRECTIONS
Preheat grill medium heat. Line your terrine or bread pan with foil. Spray the foil with cooking spray.
Next, spray two to three aluminum tins with cooking spray, or brush with olive oil to prevent the veggies from sticking. You can also use aluminum foil if you don't have trays.
Lay the onions and bell peppers in one tray and the mushrooms, zucchini and eggplant in another tray. Lightly brush the veggies with olive oil on both sides and season with salt, pepper, and lemon pepper (or your favorite seasoning).
Cook the veggies on the barbecue until they are al dente. If you want to give them some color and grill stripes, lay them directly on the grill for the last few minutes.
Onions take the longest to cook, followed by bell peppers, eggplant, zucchini, and mushrooms. Since no two grills seem to cook the exact same, you may have to adjust these times and the grill temp, but in general cook each veggie for the following amount of time:
Red Onions: 5-6 minutes per side; Red Bell Peppers: 3-4 minutes per side
Eggplant: 3-4 minutes per side; Zucchini: 2-3 minutes per side; Mushrooms: 2-3 minutes per side
Once the veggies are cooked, stack the veggies in the prepared terrine or loaf pan, preferably starting with the veggies you'd like to see on top when you serve it at the bottom of the pan, because it's easier to get the terrine out of the dish by inverting it on a platter. Lay the cheese in between whichever layer of veggies you want to. Sprinkle basil intermittently throughout the layers. Press down on the top of the entire terrine with your hands or a spatula to slightly compress the layers. Cover the terrine with foil. Place heavy cans of beans or tomato sauce on top to help pack down the veggies. Refrigerate until ready to heat and serve. Can refrigerate for several days ahead of time.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 F and bake the terrine, covered for about 25 minutes or until heated through. Remove from oven and allow to sit for 10-15 minutes.
Invert onto your serving platter and discard the foil. Garnish with a sprig of oregano or parsley. Slice into 1 1/2-inch slices and serve. |
Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA