Summer Sizzle BBQ Salad

In March, it's already summer time in Austin and I got inspired to fire up the grill. I grew up assisting my Baba (Dad), the Persian Charcoal Grill Master–and this was my first swing owning the whole colorful set up with his influence. For Persian BBQ's, we do lots of fire roasted veggies with traditional kebobs. You'll always find a chard tomato, onion and sometimes peppers on a finished platter to mix with your Persian basmati rice. For my version, I set up a more bikini-friendly rainbow array of mostly veggies, with a garnish of meat. The beautiful ingredients you can BBQ are endless, from stone fruits like peaches, to tangy pineapple. Mushroom, eggplant or cauliflower steaks. Garlic and corn on the cob. Get creative and toss what you have on the grill for delicious fun with your friends and family. 

For the final plating of this feature, I essentially created a BBQ Salad. Roughly chopped grilled heads of romaine used as the base to these plates, and topped with all the colorful veggies. Yes, you can even BBQ the leaves of your beats and add them to your BBQ salad. Enjoy!

Summer Sizzle BBQ Salad 

by Sarah Farsh March 30, 2021

• romaine lettuce, sliced in half vertically
• portobello mushrooms
• sweet onions, sliced in half 
• vine tomatoes, sliced in half
• asparagus
• beets, sliced, save the leaves
• organic corn on the cob, shucked (with salt water bath bowl ready to plunge them into after grilling)
• skirt steak, or no steak, lightly salted
• fresh lemon
• kosher salt
• fresh cracked black pepper
• very good olive oil (to lightly drizzle at the end for finishing, but I don't cook with it)

Fire up your grill (charcoal or gas), and swipe an onion face down across the hot surface to season and flavor the grill. Add rest of onions face town, they take longest to grill and soften. Add sliced beets, they take second longest to grill. Add portobello mushrooms, tomatoes, asparagus and corn to the grill. Rotate the corn so it gets nice and chard on all sides, then plunge into a bath of cold salted water to retain sweetness and vibrant color. Grill your romaine lettuce and beet leaves last since they take the quickest to cook. Chop romaine lettuce and use as a base to your BBQ plate. Squeeze lemon on top of asparagus when it's off of the grill. Chop up asparagus, portobello mushrooms and onions to add on top of your grilled salad with beet slices on top. Lightly drizzle the plates with a good finishing olive oil, salt, and pepper.