Question about using outdoor grill grate for veggies inside

Hi,

I am a single vegetarian and want to start grilling some of my veggies. I bought a small charcoal grill a couple of years ago and used it ONCE. The hassle to get the charcoal started using a Chimney and then using it to grill just veggies ( I also bought a Veggie Grill basket) was just too much hassle. Remember I am cooking for one. Eventually, I just gave the grill away to a friend of mine, along with all the tools, Veggie basket and all. It was just sitting there mocking me.

Now, what I want to do is to buy one of those veggie grill grates with holes in them and use it on my indoor gas burner. Other than smoke issues, is there anything else I should be careful of? I looked at the cast iron grill pans (with grill mark grooves), but what I want is the charring you get when the veggies are in contact with direct heat. Broiling is out as I use my Oven to store all my skillets and saute-pans.

I saw one of these (with handles, natch) at TJMaxx on sale for 7 bucks and want to know from grillmasters what the protocol is for using these indoors.

Fire is fire. The time-tested method for removing skin from peppers is to char over a kitchen burner. But, as you noted, you need to be pretty vigilant. As for smoke, because of the high moisture content, you're not likely to get huge amounts, but it's always a good idea to ventilate.

I agree with sprinynorman99. I'll add that you may find it hard to get good heat coverage from a single burner. If you have a lot of veggies, you'll have to move them around a lot. For $7, I'd try it.

As you noted, grill pans aren't quite the same thing. But you'll still get nice carmelization and flavor. The veggies are still in contact with heat, it's just that the heat is conducted through the pan rather than through the air. Either way you aren't going to get the type of flavor you'd get from an actual grill.

Here's something I've learned about using a veggie basket on a grill: don't shake it around a lot. Little veggie pieces will fly out and fall to their fiery death. Better to stir the veggies in the basket with a wooden spoon than try to stir them by shaking the basket around by the handle.

Thanks everyone. I did end up buying the grill and tried it yesterday.

I made a South Indian Tomato Rasam, and grilled my 4 Roma tomatoes on this contraption. It worked out great. The flat Grill was big enough to hold them all and I have one Burner labelled POWER BURNER which gave me enough heat to char and cook these suckers. I did not cook them fully, just enough to get a nice char going. I added 1 14 oz. can of MuirGlen no salt added fire roasted tomatoes (on sale at the South loop Whole Foods for 1 dollar!), et voila: the best tasting Rasam I have ever made (If I say so myself).

There was some smoke issues, but I have a decent window fan rigged up to get rid of most of my cooking smells. When you live in a small 1 BDR apartment, this is quite essential!