Who needs an indoor grill...

When you've got a cake rack and a stove?

Cake rack as indoor grill and cake rack as cake rack

I came across this nifty idea last Saturday when i had a roasted vegetable dilemma. My oven takes forever to heat up, especially when things are being cooked on the stove. The stove was being used a lot that time... And I had to bake some zucchini and bell peppers quick. I have a toaster oven but with the volume of vegetables to cook I knew it would take even longer.

As with typical Filipino kitchens, my family has 2 stoves. One of the stoves wasn't being used last Saturday. And I had a wire cake rack. I'm sure I heard about this idea from somewhere, probably from Rachel Ray. Anyway, it was a good thing I decided to grill the vegetables. Not only do "grilled vegetables" sound better than "roasted vegetables", they cook a lot faster and taste a lot better. Roasting a pepper would probably take 20 minutes with frequent turning which is quite a pain... you always have to brave the oven heat when you open the door.

Check out the fire action! Love it.

You still have to do the frequent turning thing with your DIY grill though. It's not so bad because the heat isn't as strong. And, grilling a pepper would take about 10 minutes.

If you're not in the know of how to grill a pepper, rub the pepper with oil (preferably olive), salt, and pepper. Brush the cake rack with oil as well and place it on top of your burner. My cake rack is probably about 10x10 inches and it fit perfectly. Turn on your stove to about medium heat. The heating up doesn't take too long.

Place the peppers on the rack, on top of the flames. I only had to cook 2 peppers, you could probably fit 3 with all 3 getting enough heat / fire. Turn frequently until each side is blackened. Once cooked, place the black peppers in a large bowl and cover with a plate. Let them cool until cool enough to handle. Remove the black skin with your fingers.














So, on to the zucchini. You could grill 4 slices of zucchini at one go. Slice at a diagonal, maybe 1/2 inch thick. Brush each side with oil, salt and pepper. Grill at a diagonal as well, maybe 3-5 minutes per side.

I used these vegetables for a couscous salad which I will blog about soon!