Put vegetables in your cocktails or elseThis week, some girlfriends and I booked our third annual August getaway. Over a long weekend we do our best “Love Island” impression, ditching our phones, sunning and gabbing by a pool, sharing meals and cocktails and sleeping in three side-by-side beds in a single room. Such summer sojourns demand designated grill masters. On ours, they are Emily and Elissa, who light and tend to the finnicky coals with patience that the rest of us lack. It’s only right that someone hand them a drink as they do. That’s where the designated bartender — me! — comes in. The first long weekend of True Summer is almost here. Have you designated your grill master? Your bartender? Let me save you the work of assigning what to cook and what to drink. Below are some ideas for your holiday — complete with veggie-based cocktails, naturally. Throw some skewers, burgers or “steaks” on the grillGrilled mushrooms with chive butter: Achieving perfectly charred, intensely meaty mushrooms is all in the technique. Alexa Weibel rubs them down with smoked paprika and garlic and onion powders, and pairs them with a zesty and herbaceous compound butter for optimal decadence. “They were perhaps the best mushrooms I’ve tasted,” commented a reader. And to drink: Rebekah Peppler’s celery sour mocktail (with vodka, if you like — and I like). Celery? To have with mushroom, butter, chives? How French. If you don’t make it this weekend, save this elegant combo for Bastille Day on July 14. Grilled Mushrooms With Chive ButterMushroom smash burgers: Skip the hassle of forming veggie patties in favor of smashing a few seasoned portobello caps on the outdoor griddle, as Ali Slagle does, and then finish them with your favorite fixings. I’m partial to a slice of Cheddar, thinly sliced white onion, shredded lettuce, mayo, mustard and a lot of pickles. And to drink: Speaking of pickles … Nikita Richardson’s five-star pickle-brine margarita, adapted from the Brooklyn bar Pine Box Rock Shop. “The Venn diagram of dirty martini and margarita drinkers intersects here,” wrote a reader, “and it was a hit at a recent cook out.” Grilled cauliflower steaks: Vegetable “steaks” get a bad rap, but these burnished slabs of cauliflower from Ali are lively and varied in texture thanks to a finish of dill, chiles and peanuts, bound by olive oil and lime juice. And to drink: Kasia Pilat’s pickle lemonade, to complement the dill and citrus in the sauce. Drink it as is, or add a splash of tequila, vodka or gin, at the suggestion of several readers. Hell, throw a salad on the grillGrilled tofu salad with honey chile dressing: Hold the fish sauce in favor of soy sauce (or a vegetarian fish sauce) to ensure Kay Chun’s colorful platter of juicy cherry tomatoes, smoky slabs of tofu and fire-kissed zucchini and green beans is vegetarian. To make it vegan, try replacing the honey with maple syrup. And to drink: Rebekah’s cherry tomato spritz, using yellow cherry tomatoes. Sunny and savory, much like the nước chấm that inspired Kay’s dressing. Grilled eggplant salad: Melissa Clark’s five-star salad, made with blistered globe eggplant and lightly briny from capers, is more of a spreadable dip. I’d spoon it over all manner of grilled pita, feta or spiced, grilled halloumi, or serve it on the side of even more grilled vegetables (like in place of this meat-based neonata) to anchor a little aperitivo hour. And to drink: Rebekah’s sherry-tomato cobbler, with its muddled heirloom tomato and easy tomato simple syrup, would echo the fresh tomato in Melissa’s salad quite well, methinks. Soba salad with grilled mushrooms and tofu: Raw snap peas and serrano chiles add plenty of juicy crunch to this centerpiece salad from Ali. I think you’ll want to put the marinade and dressing — a simple combination of miso paste, maple syrup and lime juice — on more of your summer cooking after this. Finish with basil, cilantro or mint. And to drink: Rebekah’s snap pea gimlet, equally vivacious with mint and lime. Rebekah’s celery sour has long reigned supreme in my house, but this creative use of another green veggie may very well come for its throne. Grilled broccoli and halloumi salad: Ali swaps each foundational element of the classic broccoli salad — raw broccoli for charred, Cheddar for grilling cheese, raisins for green grapes — to great effect here, delivering something modern and fresh but no less picnic ready. And to drink: Rebekah’s refreshing arugula-mint Pimm’s cup would make great use of any remaining mint and lime from the salad.
Mushroom Smash Burgers
Soba Salad With Grilled Mushrooms and Tofu
Grilled Eggplant SaladFor a limited time, you can enjoy free access to the recipes in this newsletter in our app. Download it on your iOS or Android device and create a free account to get started. One More Thing!A nonexhaustive list of foods the Transportation Security Administration has confiscated from Veggie readers, according to my inbox:
Thanks to those who wrote in last week. I needed the laugh! Pack that checked holiday bag accordingly. See you next week. Email us at theveggie@nytimes.com. Newsletters are archived here. Reach out to my colleagues at cookingcare@nytimes.com if you have questions about your account.
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