My Cabbage Babies

August 23, 2026

"The insufferable arrogance of human beings to think that Nature was made solely for their benefit, as if it was conceivable that the sun had been set afire merely to ripen men's apples and head their cabbages." - Cyrano de Bergerac

I never liked barbecue as a kid. I hated barbecue sauce and chicken with the skin on, and charred burgers and hot dogs with burnt black spots. So as an adult I have largely avoided grilling anything. I have never really liked mushrooms either, but on the barbecue? Suddenly mushrooms are the most exciting thing on my plate. This summer has changed my palette and my mind.

Truly, this has been the summer of grilling for me! Vegetables. All kinds of vegetables. I went vegetarian back in January and have been making a concerted effort to explore and enjoy as many different kinds of vegetables as possible.

I love food, and I love cooking, but I haven't always loved barbecue. But this year alone we've had nearly 10 backyard barbecues which is triple what we normally do. Over the winter I spent time cleaning out the garage and unearthed our veggie grilling basket. The basket has made grilling veggies so much more enjoyable. I don't have to worry about tiny pieces of cauliflower or bits of garlic falling into the coals, and I get the same delicious smoky flavor as if I cooked them directly on the grill.

Artichokes

I had seen videos of people barbecuing artichokes, and I even went to a restaurant in Salinas that makes a barbecued artichoke, but I had never done it myself. We were at Trader Joe's when I saw the biggest, most beautiful artichoke of my life. I knew right away I had to have it. Let me tell you, I wish I had bought two.

To cook my beautiful choke I first gave it a good wash and made sure to get in between the leaves, lest any bugs get into my food (once you've seen an earwig in your artichoke you can't unsee it...). I then trimmed the top, the stem, and the leaf tips, and cut it in half as best I could. Both halves went into a big stock pot with boiling water, salt, lemon juice, lemons, garlic and peppercorns. I boiled them until they seemed tender (about 40 minutes), and set them aside to cool. After they had cooled down completely I carved the thistle out of the middle and prepped them for the grill. I put both halves into a large bowl with my usual seasoning blend of olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper before throwing them on the grill.

The end result was more indulgent than I could have imagined. WAAAAY better than the artichoke I had in Salinas (I wont name the restaurant but you can look it up). Every leaf was filled with lemony, garlicky, smokey goodness. My wife said hers was a little bitter, but I didn't notice any bitterness in mine. It was perfect and it was something I will daydream about for years to come.

Cauliflower and Sweet Potato

A lot of my grilling effort is supported by my wife, Bobby, who helps with the prep. For the cauliflower, she got about 2 "steaks" worth, and the rest was just pieces. Only two of us were eating the cauliflower so that worked out just fine, and the pieces ended up being just as delicious.

The sweet potatoes took a little bit longer than everything else. After getting them nicely toasted on both sides I moved them to the upper rack to continue heating all the way through while I finished cooking everything else. They were very good and I will be grilling both again in the near future.

Asparagus

Everything that I've cooked this summer has been mouth watering, asparagus notwithstanding. I don't have a photo of the asparagus (oops), so enjoy this photo of the coals on fire.

Squash, Mushrooms and More

I grilled a lot of squash this summer but this seems to be the only photographic evidence that I did. The image above shows zuchinni, king oyster mushrooms and Quorn "chicken" cutlets. All prepared by Bobby and seasoned with the regular trimmings.

The stand-out veggie here is the mushrooms. Sliced thin and cooked until crispy, these well seasoned royal trumpets turn into crispy, chewy, umami bites of deliciousness. It is better than bacon and as someone who has consumed mass quantities of bacon, I feel that I have the authority to make such a bold claim.

My Cabbages!

My wife sent me to the store to get Napa cabbage which she intended to peel apart and grill just the leaves. I came back instead with green cabbage. Oops. But it worked out and the cabbage ended up being really delicious.

First I peeled off the outer layers of leaves, then I cut the cabbage directly in half and saved half in the fridge for later. The remaining half I cut into quarters, being careful to keep the rib intact so the leaves didn't all fall off. The cabbage quarters were then tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper. I was lazy and added garlic powder to these but it still came out pretty good. My cabbage babies only took a few minutes on each side on direct heat. They were tender and flavorful and went really well on top of our veggie burgers instead of lettuce.