Grill your vegetables! How to make vegetables the star of a barbecue

This summer, Argentinian chef Francis Mallmann, legend of wood-fired cooking, published Green Fire, a book exploring “extraordinary” ways to grill vegetables. Consider it an important marker, as the idea of ​​creating stellar dishes around grilled vegetables is becoming more popular.

From London's Acme Fire Cult to the Moorcock Inn near Halifax, where the grills of wood-roasted greens, broccoli, zucchini and asparagus, the most creative British barbecue is one that celebrates the alchemy of heat, smoke and vegetables in its own way – rather than as a meat topping.

Want to serve up some lively veggies from your grill this summer? Take inspiration from Britain's most inventive chefs.

Sweetcorn

Nina Matsunaga, chef-owner of Cumbria's Black Bull, roasts corn in her husk: "Hassle. But much better flavor. Remove the gathered silk from under the husk, re-roll the cob and - to prevent the husk from burning - soak it in water for 20 minutes, then drain. Grill the cob for 20 minutes, turning it regularly.

To flavor the cob, Matsunaga opens the envelope, brushes it with herb butter (30g of butter per cob, blitzed with 10g wild garlic, dill, lovage, parsley, etc.), wrap it up and grill it for another three minutes. Finally, she removes the shell and serves with salad and flatbread.

Alternatively, after 10 minutes of cooking, you can season the cob with salt and butter and, after 20 more minutes on the grill, serve topped with pickled ginger, spring onions and miso mayonnaise (2½ tbsp mayonnaise, ideally Kewpie, mixed with ½ tsp white miso) : "For an umami kick, sprinkle on katsuobushi (smoked skipjack tuna)."

London's Fallow's famous corn "ribs" are usually fried. They won't curl up as dramatically on the barbecue, but their fresh, smoky taste is delicious, says co-owner Will Murray.

Take two cobs of corn and Using a large, sharp knife (caution: keep your fingers free and working slowly, with your weight behind the blade), cut the ends flat and cut each ear in half to get four small ears.

< p class="dcr -3jlghf">Take each one, stand it upright, and divide it in half, cutting through the pit. You now have eight pieces of corn that are flat on the kernel side. Taking each piece one at a time, place them heart side down and cut them in half lengthwise, resulting in 16 "ribs".

In salted boiling water, cook the ribs for four minutes. Drain and grill to...