These vegetables can come in really handy during barbeque season. I know we’ll be eating them a lot. You can use it as a salad, or a grilled side dish, or as fajita vegetables.
At Easter I made Marinated Vegetables as a salad. However, I didn’t have the exact spices on hand. So I made some substitutions. Everyone loved it. Even my father who doesn’t eat vegetables ate some to my great surprise.
A couple of weeks later, I used the same marinade with red and green bell peppers and double the onion. This time I just threw it in the fridge for a couple of hours without the initial cooking that you do for the salad.
We were having barbequed chicken breasts and a salad. I decided to grill up the peppers and onions and serve as a side dish. I drained off the marinade and saved it to use another time. I grilled up the vegetables in a pan on the stove for 15 minutes or so when the vegetables were carmelized.
It was just me and my daughter. We ate it all! It was really good.
So, since I had the marinade already made, I made it again later in the week and used the peppers and onions for fajita vegetables. That was yummy too!
You can also use the grilled peppers and onions on burgers, Italian sausage, or roast beef. They go great with grilled chicken or steak.
Here’s the recipe – Remember that if you are going to grill it, do not cook first. Drain the marinade before grilling.
Marinated Vegetables as a Salad
4 cups mixed vegetables
2/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup white wine
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup chopped onions
3 garlic cloves — minced
1/4 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
black pepper — to taste
* You will need a total of 4 cups fresh vegetables cut into bite-sized pieces. Some good choices are: green beans, broccoli flowerettes, cauliflower, red and green bell peppers, zucchini and hearts of celery. If you want to add cucumber, wait until the salad has cooled.
Combine all ingredients in a large, heavy pot.
Add about 1 inch of water. Cover tightly and cook over medium heat until vegetables are just tender but still crisp. This will take 10-12 minutes at most. Keep a watch near the end. I’ve cooked away all the water and burned the vegetables more than once 😉
Remove from heat, remove cover, and let vegetables cool in the pot.
When cool, transfer to serving dish.
Cover; chill to allow flavors to blend. Bring back to room temperature to serve.
