Key to Making Vegetable Kebabs Tasty: Add a Vinaigrette

I'm a sucker for grilled vegetables. Light char and pumped-up sweetness, coupled with the slightly soft, slightly crisp texture? It's hands-down my preferred way to eat veggies. They're great on their own with just oil, salt, and pepper, but I've found that they can geteven betterwhen a tangy vinaigrette is introduced, as in thisgrilled ratatouille, for instance.

Bringing everything I love about that ratatouille to kebab format wasn't hard: I simply tossed zucchini, yellow squash, red onion, bell peppers, and grape tomatoes (I left off eggplant because it often softens too much to stay on a stick) in a balsamic vinaigrette and skewered away. Then I grilled them until some char developed; you want the vegetables to soften while still retaining a light crunch.

The balsamic flavor right off the grill is minimal, but once you spoon a little extra vinaigrette over the skewers, the flavors liven right up. The vegetables all have the sweetness, freshness, and tang of that original ratatouille—just delivered on an easy-to-eat kebab!