The grill shouldn’t exclusively be the domain of sunburnt dads with special heat-resistant spatulas. Nor should it be reserved for slabs of red meat and two-for-one chicken skewers.
No. This is an insult to the very primal instinct that prompted humans to wave stuff over the fire pit in the first place. Because you can grill pretty much anything: ratatouille, octopus, small game birds. You don’t need to wear cargo shorts, either.
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Even vegetables benefit from a good charring. Salad vegetables, no less.
Case in point: grilled cucumbers with zhoug and halloumi.
Don’t worry about losing that cucumber crunch—by grilling the vegetables lightly for ten minutes, they get deliciously smoky, not soggy.
For the zhoug (a type of herb and chili relish popular in the Middle East), make a spicy purée of parsley, chili, cardamom, and coriander and add to the cucumbers when cool. Serve atop yogurt and with a toasted hazelnut dukkah.
Don’t worry Dad, we’ve got this one.
