OVERVIEW
A barbecue should be so much more than blackened sausages and dubiously cooked chicken drumsticks. And it doesn’t have to be a meat feast. Vegetables can take centre stage too, as illustrated here. The pesto is a recipe from my book, Rough Patch, a memoir with recipes about life lessons learnt in the veg patch.
To prevent the smaller items of veg from dropping through the gaps in the grid, grab the fattest spring onions and radishes you can find. We used kale in the pesto, but any seasonal green herb would work.
SET UP YOUR EGG
Set up your EGG for both indirect and direct cooking, using the EGGspander System. Install the ConvEGGtor Basket with a Half Moon Baking Stone bottom right and a Half Moon Stainless Steel Grid top right for indirect cooking. On the top left, add a Half Moon Cast Iron Searing Grid for direct cooking. The target temperature is 220°C.
MAKE THE PESTO
As EGG heats up, make the pesto. This is simply a matter of whizzing everything, plus some salt, together in the small tub of a food processor. Alternatively bash and grind the ingredients individually with a pestle and mortar, then mix.
CHAR THE VEG
Once the EGG is up to heat, arrange the vegetables over the Cast Iron Searing Grid on the direct side. Don’t overcrowd it – if necessary you can char the veg in batches, using the indirect side to keep them warm. Don’t use any oil – there’s lots in the pesto.
Turn the vegetables regularly, until blistered on the outside but still crunchy in the centre, moving them over the grid on the indirect side once they’ve reached perfection.
GRILL THE FLATBREADS
When all the veg is cooked, grill the flatbreads over the direct heat to get some nice bar mark on them.
Slice up the radishes, then toss the warm, charred vegetables in the pesto. Pile them into flatbreads, top with a few edible flowers and serve.
