We recently had a spring fair fundraiser at my oldest boy's school. I volunteered to run a vegetarian food stall. Given the popularity of the ubiquitous sausage sizzle, it seemed both fitting and prudent to set up a BBQ alongside it and dish up a vegetarian alternative. After giving it some thought I came up with barbecued eggplant, zucchini and haloumi in a bun with a tangy capsicum relish. The saltiness of the caramelised haloumi was nicely balanced by the sharpness of the vinegar in the otherwise sweet capsicum relish. As there was so much flavour coming from those two ingredients, the zucchini and eggplant were merely lightly basted with olive oil and barbecued until nicely coloured. They lent a lovely, smoky mellowness to the mix.I was so pleased that the vegetarian BBQ was well-received, with rave reviews pouring in from many people who were excited to see a delicious alternative to a sausage on a roll with sauce.
I am looking forward to playing around with this combination for my own barbecues, perhaps exploring some spice concoctions such as za'atar, chermoula or harissa. Another way forward could be to add some heat to the relish and perhaps freshen the roll up with some raw leaves like rocket.
Do you have a favourite, go-to, meatless barbecue dish?
