One quick grill session yields multiple elegant, easygoing meals
“8 Recipes to Make This Summer When You Can’t Be Bothered to Cook” “Simple Salads for Busy People” “Summer No-Cook Recipes to Make You a Better Person”
You’ve seen them all; we’ve clicked them all. Here’s the thing: it’s another season, it’s hot, but your people are hungry and you and I both know that we have to cook. There’s no getting around it.
While I try to convince myself I can live off of sliced tomatoes and salted cucumbers all summer, the heart wants what the heart wants. And after a day at the pool, or on the lake, or in the garden, what the heart truly wants is melty cheese and crusty bread with some smoky grilled vegetables (to make it a little virtuous and also because I was a tad overzealous at the farmers market).
What’s helpful about grilling is that you fire it up while you’re still hot yourself, and this cooks in 15 minutes—that’s less time than a pizza delivery and miles better for you. It’s also gloriously colorful; vibrant with reds, yellows, purples (read: impressive for guests); and salty, lemony, herby, and a little sweet. What’s leftover is a gift as well: making headway into a delicious lunch or breakfast or nighttime snack. A textured, layered meal you make while your bathing suit is still wet? You’ll see.
Grilled Feta with Summer Vegetables Recipe
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- juice and zest of one lemon
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- handful of soft herbs (oregano, chives, basil, thyme), chopped
- 1 8 oz block feta cheese, blotted dry
- 2-4 summer squash
- 2 bell peppers, cored and halved
- 1 red onion, peeled and quartered
- 1/2 cup shelled pistachios, chopped
- 1 tbs honey
Instructions
Begin with the marinade. In a small baking dish, whisk together oil, lemon and zest, salt, pepper, garlic, and herbs (if you don’t have fresh, use a tablespoon of Italian herbs). Nestle cheese in the middle of this mixture, flipping it over so both sides are coated. Cover and set aside in the refrigerator for 20 minutes to overnight. It’s summer: you either plan ahead or you’re flying by the seat of your pants. You do you.
When you’re ready to grill, heat it on medium high while you do the next step. Half the squash lengthwise, if you can be bothered, chop off the stem and bottom portion, but don’t feel the need for it.
Remove the feta from the marinade, and dip each piece of vegetable in the mixture. Don’t get too precious about this, just a quick dip, flip, done. Save the rest of the marinade, y0u might need it later.
Take two pieces of foil and crumple up the sides to form a shoddy but useable little open-topped baking dish. Set the feta inside.
Place the feta and vegetables on the grill, close the lid, and cook for 8 minutes. Open, flip the vegetables, and close it again for 4 minutes or until the vegetables are a little charred but not falling apart soggy. The feta is ready when it’s softened, a little melty, and even browned on top.
On a cutting board, chop vegetables and slide them onto a serving platter, drizzling everything in olive oil and a scatter of flaky salt. Nestle the feta in the middle, and if you can be bothered, sprinkle pistachios and drizzle honey on the cheese. Admire your handiwork.
Serve this with crusty bread and napkins but no plates because dishes have to be washed. This is wonderful with grilled chicken or fish as well.
The Next Day
If there are leftovers, crumble the now-cooled feta on the remaining vegetables and toss it with cooked and cooled pasta, dump the saved marinade on top and you’ve got pasta salad for lunch tomorrow. Done and done.
This also is lovely for adding to scrambled eggs or a frittata and is equally lovely eaten cold from the fridge as you congratulate yourself for those 15 minutes of grilling as you feed yourself two or three times over. It tastes like summer, like time well spent, swimsuit drying on your skin, barefoot, satisfied.
