According to the calendar, summer’s official end is still about three weeks away. The unofficial last weekend of summer, though, comes with Labor Day, which always seems to feature the season’s final big cookout.
Enthusiastic outdoor cooks usually pay lots of attention to the main courses for Labor Day. In my experience, however, they give much less thought to the side dishes, all too often winding up with the same old potato salad, coleslaw, baked beans or, by default, some bags of their favorite potato chips or corn chips.
But the very fact that you’ve fired up the grill means that you have an ideal opportunity to cook more interesting side dishes. I always love to grill vegetables, which take just a few minutes to prep and only a few minutes more to cook alongside steaks, chops, kabobs, burgers, hot dogs or fish fillets — or while a larger cut of meat you’ve grilled or smoked rests before carving.
The very fact that vegetables cook so quickly on the grill also means that you can get even more creative with them. I’ve turned grilled vegetables into chopped salads, for example, tossing a mixture with a vinaigrette, then arranging it on a bed of lightly dressed salad greens. Other times, I might layer stacks of grilled vegetable slices with some creamy goat cheese and fresh basil leaves. Or I’ll transform the vegetables into a healthy, satisfying pilaf by tossing them with one of my favorite grains, quinoa, as I do in this recipe.
The ancient Latin American grain called quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) has a
nutty flavor and a light, yet chewy, texture that make it a very exciting base for a pilaf. In many well-stocked supermarkets, you can find it in a spectrum of colors ranging from black and purple to red and pink to deep orange to pale tan. I use the latter type, usually labeled “white” quinoa, in the recipe here, but you can feel free to substitute other colors of the grain, which have even chewier textures and their own distinctive flavors.
In a similar spirit, you can have fun varying the mixture of grilled vegetables you chop and toss with the quinoa. In the version of the recipe here, I use eggplant, zucchini, bell pepper and sweet corn, but sweet onion, carrots, asparagus spears and shiitake-mushroom caps are also excellent candidates.
And as those options may suggest, you don’t even need to limit yourself to summer to make this dish. The recipe works just as well with an indoor grill or even a broiler. So you can go on enjoying this side dish throughout the coming autumn and beyond.
QUINOA AND GRILLED VEGETABLE PILAF
Serves 4
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups quinoa
3 cups organic chicken broth or vegetable broth
1 large slender Japanese eggplant, cut lengthwise into slices 1/3-inch thick
1 large zucchini, trimmed and cut lengthwise into slices 1/3-inch thick
1 large red bell pepper, quartered, stemmed, seeded and deveined
1 ear sweet corn, husks and silk removed
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chervil leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint leaves
Directions:
Preheat an outdoor grill, an indoor countertop grill or a ridged grill pan, or a broiler.
Put the quinoa in a fine-meshed strainer, and rinse under cold running water. Transfer to a medium saucepan, and add the broth. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; then reduce the heat to low, cover the pan, and cook until the quinoa is tender and all the liquid has been absorbed, about 15 minutes. Set aside and keep warm.
Meanwhile, when the grill or broiler is hot, lightly brush the eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers and corn with oil, and season lightly with salt and pepper. Place on the grill or under the broiler, and cook until the eggplant, zucchini and pepper are nicely browned on both sides and tender, 3 to 5 minutes per side, and the corn is slightly charred all over, 5 to 7 minutes total.
When the vegetables are done, transfer them to a clean cutting board. As soon as they are cool enough to handle, cut the eggplant, zucchini and peppers into 1/3-inch dice. Transfer them to a mixing bowl. Carefully steadying one end of the corn ear on the board and carefully cutting downward with the knife parallel to the cob, cut the corn kernels from the cob. Add them to the bowl.
Transfer the warm cooked quinoa to the bowl. Run the tines of a fork through it to separate the grains. Add all the herbs, and stir the quinoa and herbs with the vegetables, tossing everything together thoroughly. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.