Grilled Salad of Summer Vegetables

Think of this salad as a deluxe Caprese, where grilled everything augments the usual trio of tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella. 

So simple. So good we eat it about twice a month in summertime. 

Grilled Salad of Summer Vegetables

1 quart (or more or less) summer squash of any kind (zucchini, patty pan, you name it)

1 quart (or more or less) cherry tomatoes

8 to 16 ounces whole mushrooms

2 sweet bell peppers, of any color

one whole large red onion, sliced into eighths 

1 to 2 cups purple basil

1 bunch oregano

1 ball of fresh mozzarella

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/8 cup lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Procedure

Slice the summer squash of all kinds into planks about 1/4 inch thick. If the mozzarella has not been pre-sliced, chop it into large but manageable slices. Slice the red onion into eighths. Chop the bell peppers in half, remove the seeds and core, and then chop them into eighths as well. Roughly chop the basil and oregano, but leave the mushrooms and cherry tomatoes whole. 

A grill basket can be a great tool for the work ahead, but if you don't have one, you can always use skewers to hold everything together. Don't have skewers? You'll be okay with a pair of steel tongs and a careful eye on the process. 

Grill all the vegetables on both sides. With bell peppers and mushrooms, its best to start them off on the side most likely to leak juice, so the cut side for peppers, and the gills side for mushrooms. (The more cooked they are, the more oozing they do. You want that liquid to stay in your salad bowl, not on the coals.) 

Once the vegetables are cooked, you might wish to chop everything further before tossing with herbs, olive oil, salt, and lemon juice. 

This salad is at its peak from 4 to 30 hours after being tossed. We like to make as much as we're likely to eat within a couple of days.