Lucinda’s Herby Citrus Grilled Vegetables
•¼ cup olive oil
•2 tablespoons orange blossom honey
•2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
•Zest of one lemon
•2 garlic cloves, minced
•1 tablespoon chopped oregano
•2 tablespoons chopped parsley
•1 teaspoon chopped thyme
•½ teaspoon salt
•¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
•2 medium zucchini, sliced lengthwise
•2 medium yellow squash, sliced lengthwise
•3 peppers, (2 sweet, 1 mild-hot) sliced lengthwise
•1 eggplant, sliced
•1 sweet onion, thickly sliced
Steps:
1. Whisk together olive oil, honey, lemon juice, lemon zest, garlic, oregano, parsley, thyme, salt & pepper in a medium bowl.
2. Toss sliced veggies with honey mixture until fully coated. Let sit at room temperature for at least 1 hour.
3. Preheat a large grill pan over medium-high heat. Add vegetables, and sauté for 2-3 minutes or until as tender as desired.
As soon as my long-time friend Lucinda shared this recipe with me, I knew I would love it. Herbs, citrus, and honey marinade- it just sounds like a summer-grilling winner. I had so much fun preparing it with my kids—they are 10 & 12 now so any job I can delegate to them I will!
10-year-old Tristan trimmed the thyme, the two kinds of parsley (Italian and Curled, because why not?) and oregano. We have an herb garden, and I was so happy I had all the herb ingredients on hand. It was sprinkling out, so rinsing off the herbs was a breeze! I chopped the herbs and the veggies while 12-year-old Rowan juiced the lemon. I was very careful not to touch my eyes after chopping the jalapeno we choose to use for our hot pepper. Lucinda recommends milder poblanos for hot peppers and I can see why after eating our result!
Rowan whisked the herbs, oil, lemon, honey and garlic minced garlic together. Almost forgot the garlic, I feel like that is something I regularly do. I don’t know why, it’s so fun to use the garlic press. I highly recommend the Williams Sonoma Stainless-Steel Garlic Press! It’s so heavy duty and a cinch to clean. The whole family has been cooking a lot together since the pandemic and it’s been a very wonderful bonding experience for us. Gardening and eating what you grow has been such a simple way to find normalcy and calm during the past 18 months.
We tossed our veggies and marinade together and placed them into the refrigerator for about an hour. Then my husband time took over with the grilling. As the onions came off the grill I started popping them like candy. They were so very sweet in the summery-est of ways. The honey was such a good call in the marinade, plus using the jalapeno as our hot pepper actually somehow infused a bit of heat to all the veggies, so they had this amazing honey sweet citrus spicy flavor. It was such a great taste, move over Bobby Flay! They kids loved it, I loved it and even my picky-eater husband loved it.
We will be using this recipe again very soon—it’s the perfect go-to marinade on everything from veggies to chicken, pork or fish for all your summer grilling! Its super versatile too—simply switch up the veggies and herbs with whatever is in ready to harvest in the garden. You might also want to try it on some grilled peaches and/or nectarines (minus the garlic of course!). Serve them with a scoop of ice cream for a new favorite summer dessert!
