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You are here: Home / Waiter, there's something in my... / Waiter, there’s no meat in my barbecue – the WTSIM#8 roundup

Waiter, there’s no meat in my barbecue – the WTSIM#8 roundup

by Jeanne Horak on September 2, 2007 14 Comments in Waiter, there's something in my...

roasted-butternut

I love barbecues.  I love the convival gathering round a fire to talk and eat.  I love the way that meat cooked over an open fire tastes distinctly different to meat cooked indoors.  I love how my clothes (and the house!) smell of woodsmoke the following morning.  I love the lack of pots and pans to wash up.  But most of all I love the fact that it is one of the few times that Nick will eagerly take charge and cook without any assistance from me.

Well, up to a point.  I still end up making vegetable side dishes and the dessert.  So… wouldn’t life be even more perfect if I could devise a way for these to be cooked on the barbecue as well?  But wait:  I have a cunning plan – I’ll host a themed cooking event and get food bloggers from around the world to send me things other than meat that I can coax Nick into cooking on the barbecue.  Hurrah!

So, now that my secret evil masterplan for world domination has been revealed (!), let’s see what delicious non-meat treats my fellow-bloggers have devised to whip on on the barbecue.  Without further ado, I give you the round-up for Waiter, there’s something in my… meatless barbecue!

SAVOURY DISHES

Trinigourmet Hands up:  who’s ever made a dish inspired by a film or TV show?  Hmmm, not too many hands there, but a couple.  OK, hands up: who’s made a dish inspired by Spongebob Squarepants?  Anybody?  Anybody?? Wait!  There’s one!  Sarina of Trinigourmet brings us the highly original vegetarian Krabby Patty burgers, inspired by the Krusty Krab burger joint in the Spongebob Movie.  Genius!  And check out those perfect grill marks on the onion 🙂

Vanielje_kitchenx Back here in England, my fellow-South African and foodblogging newcomer Inge from Vanielje Kitchen goes on a bit of a vegetable bender and brings us her BBQd vegetables extravaganza.  Braving an incident involving white linen trousers and the used coals form the last BBQ, and a make-up malfunction brought on by the smoke, she emerges triumphantly with butternut squash “burgers”, baked sweet potato, stuffed butternut squash… to name but a few!

Freshadriaticfishx Another blogging newbie is Fresh Adriatic Fish from Split in Croatia.  She has undertaken to try and write about the recipes in her parents’ hand-written recipe book and to tell us all a little more about Croatian traditions and cuisine.  On the menu today is grilled fresh fish (riba na gradele) and she paints a delightful picture of the lore of the fish BBQ on the Dalmatian coast.  And how can you resist a country with a saying like “the fish has to swim three times:  in the sea, in the oil, and in the wine”.

Cherrapenox Back in Kent, here in England, we meet another blogging expat: Nic from Cherrapeno (a cross between a cherry pepper and a jalapeno, in case you were wondering). I suspect that after the heat of Arizona, the drizzly summer we’ve had has been a bit of a let-down for Nic, but she makes the most of every moment of sun and hauls out the BBQ to make gorgeous grilled cheese, bread and tomato skewers.  Perfect for eating straight off the grill as you wait for the main course to cook.

Annesfoodx Now we cross the channel and head north to Stockholm to visit my friend Anne of Anne’s Food.  Who can resist barbecued corn, still on the cob, dripping with butter?  But wait – there’s more you can do with it!  Anne presents us with a decidedly un-Swedish-sounding dish:  fire-roasted corn salsa with feta cheese.  No matter what the heritage of this dish is, it’s certainly a keeper 🙂

Dispensinghappinessx And now, ladies and gentlemen, for the first time ever on WTSIM, the lovely Stephanie of Dispensing Happiness takes time out from her Blog Party hosting duties in Tennessee to join us for WTSIM – hurrah!  Now our Stephanie doesn’t believe in doing things by half, so you get a lot of recipes for your money, including Thai-flavoured grilled salmon salad and grilled potatoes & peppers with cheese.  It all looks delicious – do yourself a favour and go check it out.

Jennysaisquoisx Synchronicity, n:  a meaningful coincidence that has a low probability of occurring.  That’s exactly what happened between me and Jenny of Jenny Sais Quois in Massachusets.  The very month she decides to go vegan is the month that I decree a meatless theme for WTSIM.  Good timing or what?!  Although she did not have access to a grill, she took my Option B and made grilled honey lime asparagus on her grill pan.  Looks like a plate of heaven to me.

Foodandfamilyx Moving hemispheres now to my home, we pop in to visit Kit at Food & Family.  But alas!  The braai had to be cancelled due to Cape Town’s notoriously wet winter weather.  Sometimes you strike it lucky, sometimes you don’t.  But thankfully Kit has a whole archive of barbecued veggie recipes that she gleefully shares with us, like barbecued marrow slices and foil-baked butternut with cinnamon.  Plus we get a bonus pic of her hubby wielding the braai tongs 🙂

Foodandfun Back to the USA now where we meet Mansi of Fun and Food in Fremont, California.  So… you think you know fusion food?  And you think all the possible combinations have been done?  Think again, as Mansi redefines fusion food with her Indo-Italian creation:  grilled paneer pesto burgers.  These are true vegetable patties, featuring no meat substitues, and the whole dish is given an all-American twist by sandwiching the patties between two buns and adding ketchup. Long live fusion cuisine 😉

Melecottex Heading down south to Atlanta, we pop in to visit the lovely Chris of Melecotte.  She doesn’t need much encouragement to haul out the BBQ and treats us to picture-perfect grilled vegetables with a ricotta frittata.  If there were a “perfect grilled vegetables” entry in Wikipedia, these would be included 🙂 Check out the clever way of marinating the vegetables before grilling them!

Naminamix Closer to home, my friend Pille of Nami-Nami in Tallin, Estonia reinvents a dish I remember from childhood.  But whereas the onions we used to braai were just wrapped in foil and tossed in the coals, Pille’s roasted onions with blue cheese and thyme is an altogether classier affair.  I can just imagine the sweetness of roasted onions with the tang of blue cheese – delicious!

Cookalmostanythingx Switching hemispheres again we’re back in Australia – this time with the talented Haalo from Cook (Almost) Anything at Least Once.  She comes over all cheesy and uses one of my all-time favourite dairy ingredients:  halloumi cheese!  Yes folks, it’s the tangy Cypriot cheese that you can bake, grill or fry and it simply won’t melt.  It just goes delightfully squeaky 😉  Haalo’s grilled halloumi salad had my mouth watering:  just look at those perfect grill marks.

Italianintheusx Meanwhile back in Berkeley, California, Marta of An Italian in the US is barbecuing up a storm, Italian style.  She shows off her panini grill that can not only make panini but will also give you vegetables with perfect grill marks – hurrah!  Once the grilling is done she transforms her vegetables into grilled veggie and tofu bruschette with a mango and tomatillo salsa.  Wow!

Millermeltingpotx Over on the East Coast of the US, we have another newcomer to this event:  Ma Miller from The Miller Melting Pot.  Welcome!  She fires up the George Forman grill and gives us not one but two dishes:  rosemary-garlic-lime grilled tilapia with tofu skewers.  Looks fantastic, Ma – glad you could join us 🙂

Greengiraffex Down south – and I mean way south – in Melbourne, Johanna of the wonderfully named Green Gourmet Giraffe is making burgers.  Her beggar’s burgers owe their name to the fact that the vegetables from which they are made were given to her and she did not specifically choose them – and as we know, beggars can’t be choosers!  But she finds that they are a great wy to use up Swiss chard/silverbeet leaves.  There’s also a great explanation on the differences between preparing to cook a vegetarian vs. a carnivorous barbecue which is well worth the read.  Thanks Johanna!

Feedmex Staying in Melbourne, we meet up with my friend I-Ling of Feed me!  I’m hungry!  Despite the lack of guests, she decides to throw caution to the wind and do a barbecue for one because the Spring weather is just so… well, Springy! She treats us to sumac & cilantro prawn skewers and grilled asparagus – the one with lime cilantro and wasabi butter had me drooling on the keyboard.  Her photographs are beautiful too and just look at the daffodils :o)

Blogfromourkitchenx Back to the USA (near Lake Ontario, so I hear!) to see the lovely Elizabeth of Blog from Our Kitchen, who barbecued just before flying off on holiday, chiefly so that she would have leftovers to take along and eat in lieu of aeroplane food – good thinking! She whips up potatoes, peppers and rapini on the barbecue and discreetly hides the chicken behind a passing bread basket – LOL!  And the next day, they were the envy of the plane with their grilled veggie sandwiches 🙂

Passionatecookx Much closer to home here in London, my dear friend Johanna, The Passionate Cook, treats us to little delicacies that I have on occasion sampled at her house:  mozzarella and chile stuffed limes.  It’s all a matter of balance:  you feel virtuous because you’re not eating carcinogen-containing charred meat; but you feel guilty about the unadulterated, sinful pleasure of bubbly cheese.  Voila – a balanced meal!

Cooksisterx And of course, you have me, the Cooksister – your host!  When I went to a good friend’s rooftop barbecue last month, I already knew that we would have plenty of meat in the form of his delectable lamb sosaties.  But I also knew that it had been a long time since I’d had one of my favourite barbecues vegetables:  butternut stuffed with spinach and feta, roasted among the coals.  Trust me, it was a hit with people who would never dream of becoming vegetarian 😉

SWEET DISHES

Foodblogga I have heard of doing various fruits on the barbecue, but trust the lovely Susan of Food Blogga in San Diego to come up with something not only original but also gorgeous.  She first regales us of her father’s philisophy on food (size realyl does matter!) and then presents us with luscious-looking grilled watermelon slices with a honey-lime syrup.  A feast for the senses!

Tinnedtomatoes Like most good mothers do, my mother attempted to feed me mashed banana as one of the first solid foods I ever ate.  Sadly, I did not take to them.  If I had, though, one of the first things I would make would be these fantastic barbecued bananas with Demerara sugar and whipped cream submitted by Holler of Tinned Tomatoes in Scotland. They cook in their own skins, so no mess, no fuss – and who can resist caramelised fruit?

Feedingenthusiasmsx Staying with the tropical theme but back across the Atlantic in northern California, Elle of Feeding My Enthusiasms is inspired by the grilled bananas that her Sweetie made for her.  She presents us with grilled tropical fruit over ice cream with coconut.  Who needs chocolate when you can have fruity desserts like this?  I’m not a huge banana fan, but gently caramelized pineapple sinking slowly in melty ice cream… [groan of pleasure, cue “i’ll have what she’s having” scene] :o)

Thymeforfoodx A new BritBlog that I discovered this WTSIM was June’s Thyme for Food, a delightful blog focusing on her native Cuban cuisine.  June is quite new to the blogosphere and this is her first entry for WTSIM – and it’s a corker.  She wows us with banana and strawberry kebabs with a honey-cinnamon syrup.  Although these were done on a grill pan, they would work equally well on a BBQ grill, and you simply have to see her gorgeous pictures.  Welcome, June!

And that, as they say in the movies, is that folks.  I hope people find this roundup to be a useful repository of vegetarian (or at least non-meat) barbecue ideas.  A number of people have e-mailed me to say that they are very excited about the theme and are looking forward to inspiration – and I doubt that they will be disappointed. So I’ll sign off until next month when Johanna will be your charming hostess.

Happy meatless grilling!

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  1. Fresh Adriatic Fish says

    September 2, 2007 at 9:00 pm

    Great job! Lovely entries! Fantastic inspiration!
    Thank you for your time and effort.
    I’ll go to read them all now…

    Reply
  2. Robert says

    September 2, 2007 at 9:42 pm

    A fantastic roundup of recipes – I will be going through all the entries in more detail in the coming week but can already see that there are many I will be wanting to try out in what little braai/bbq weather remains.

    Reply
  3. african vanielje says

    September 2, 2007 at 9:56 pm

    wow, no-one can say going vegetarian means eating boring food. And they all make it look so easy. thanks everyone, and thanks Jeanne for a fab roundup

    Reply
  4. Jen says

    September 3, 2007 at 12:29 am

    Mmmm. So many yummy recipes! Plenty to keep me on the vegan track for my ‘month of vegan’. The minute I’m done with my vegan month, though, I’m SO going to try that halloumi cheese…if I can find some.

    Reply
  5. Chris says

    September 3, 2007 at 12:50 am

    What a tremendous round up! I can’t wait to go through all the posts. Thanks for a great month!

    Reply
  6. Elle says

    September 3, 2007 at 5:46 am

    A terrific collection of non-meat goodies from the grill. Such a great theme for the ‘Waiter’ event…bet you were even surprised with the variety and delicious dishes.

    Reply
  7. Whats Cooking says

    September 3, 2007 at 2:59 pm

    I can’t wait to try some of these. I think I will start with the strawberry and banana one. Sounds great

    Reply
  8. johanna says

    September 3, 2007 at 7:16 pm

    fantastic round of WTSIM – so many inspired recipes! alas the bbq season seems almost over, maybe we’ll manage to squeeze out a few more occasions, but i am not holding my hopes high! well, there’s always next year! will certainly bookmark this page and try some of these ideas. Thanks so much for hosting and a wonderful round-up, as usual! x

    Reply
  9. Nicisme says

    September 3, 2007 at 9:22 pm

    These are all fabulous! I’m really going to enjoy looking through the entries!

    Reply
  10. barbara says

    September 5, 2007 at 5:51 am

    I waited and waited for the rain to stop so I could fire up the barbie and make my entry. It’s just too wintery to be cooking outside in Auckland.

    Reply
  11. Marta says

    September 5, 2007 at 7:32 am

    Thank you SOO much! This roundup is simply amazing. I love your style of summaryzing the posts.. and moreover, all these recipes are so great! So many good ideas. Thanks a lot.

    Reply
  12. ejm says

    September 5, 2007 at 1:55 pm

    Record timing on the roundup, Jeanne!! And what a good one it is too. Thanks for making us go beyond the meat!
    -Elizabeth, in Toronto
    P.S. That’s what I get for trying to be cutesy with my “approximate location”. (As far as I know, ‘just north of Lake Ontario’ is not part of USA yet – or at least it wasn’t last time I checked) although they do say that Canada is the 51st state….

    Reply
  13. Susan from Food Blogga says

    September 5, 2007 at 3:53 pm

    What a beautiful round up! I love it all from the pics to your write-ups (great choice for a meatless bbq. And I’ve been introduced to some new blogs as well. Thanks so much Jeanne!

    Reply
  14. Andrew says

    September 14, 2007 at 12:08 pm

    Sorry I couldn’t join in this time – house move, lack of kitchen etc etc. Now settled with nice little kitchen so all ready to go for the next round!

    Reply
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The South African Food and Wine Blog Directory

The South African Food and Wine Blog Directory

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Jeanne Horak is a freelance food and travel writer; recipe developer and photographer. South African by birth and Londoner by choice, Jeanne has been writing about food and travel on Cooksister since 2004. She is a popular speaker on food photography and writing has also contributed articles, recipes and photos to a number of online and print publications. Jeanne has also worked with a number of destination marketers to promote their city or region. Please get in touch to work with her Read More…

Latest Recipes

Salmon with blood oranges dill and capers
Brussels sprouts with feta and pomegranate
Roast lamb with pomegranate glaze
Blood orange & pistachio galettes
Cauliflower topped steak with melted cheese
Plate of potted smoked salmon with slaw and a glass of champagne
bowls of pistachio pomegranate bircher muesli
Brussels sprouts with chorizo & hazelnuts

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© 2004 - 2022 · Jeanne Horak unless otherwise stated - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. You may not reproduce any text, excerpts or images without my prior permission. Site by RTW Labs

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