Roasted and Smoked Beets with Orange Vinaigrette

On September 5, 2025September 5, 2025 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, grilledLeave a comment

Until I began growing beets, I underrated these fully edible plants and the many ways to prepare them. I prefer beet greens and stems when they’re young and tender, either raw or lightly wilted. But when it comes to the bulbous roots, I think that the more time you invest, the better they taste.

Raw beetroots sometimes taste slightly bitter. Boil or steam them, and their earthy flavor starts to sweeten. Roast them in the oven or on a grill, and their natural sugars caramelize. For ultimate flavor, I give cooked beets a secondary treatment and smoke them, as I explain this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon.

All beet varieties smoke equally well. Red ones retain their rich wine color, and sliced Chioggias show off their candy cane stripes. Golden ones keep their sunny hue when smoked and carry more flavor into Roasted Golden Beet and Garlic Salad.
Learn to make Roasted and Smoked Beets with Orange Vinaigrette

Romesco-Inspired Grilled Pepper and Almond Sauce

On August 8, 2025August 7, 2025 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, grilledLeave a comment

Tomato sauce comes in so many variations that it’s easy to overlook equally delicious sauces that feature another nightshade: sweet peppers. I offer one version of a sweet pepper sauce this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. I also explain why my recipe is merely inspired by romesco, which in Catalonia traditionally consists of mainly tomatoes and garlic underscored by mild ñora peppers but has been misrepresented as a roasted red pepper sauce by many American recipes.

Whatever you call them, sweet pepper sauces deserve as much attention as tomato ones—and are just as versatile. I’ve written about different ways to roast peppers for Taste of Home, but I typically make sauces with Grilled Sweet Peppers. The recipe in this week’s column includes nuts like romesco, and I typically make it in small batches to eat fresh. My Grilled Sweet Pepper Sauce recipe lacks nuts and garlic and freezes beautifully for quick meals all year.
Learn to make Romesco-Inspired Grilled Pepper and Almond Sauce

Grilled Sweet Peppers

On July 31, 2025July 31, 2025 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, grilledLeave a comment

Heat does something magical to sweet peppers. Hold one over an open flame until the skin blackens, and the flesh becomes even sweeter as it softens. There are many ways to achieve this affect, but as I explain this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, using a grill is my favorite.

I’ve written about those many ways to roast sweet peppers for Taste of Home; you can learn about the different techniques in this article. But I have a soft spot for throwing them on the grill. This is especially true when I’m roasting several pounds at a time to turn into Grilled Sweet Pepper Sauce. Still, even if I’m roasting just one or two peppers for pasta and savory pancakes, I typically grill them in advance alongside another grilled meal or with a batch of vegetables because of the speed, ease, and other reasons I explain in this week’s column.
Learn how to grill sweet peppers

Marinated and Grilled Fish Skewers

On July 3, 2025July 3, 2025 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, grilledLeave a comment

When I make kababs for the grill, I usually slide shrimp and vegetables onto skewers. But as I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, finfish works equally well on skewers as long as you choose a cut of a firm, meaty species that’s thick enough to cube and thread.

My favorite grilled fish skewers start with offcuts of halibut, which my local fishmonger sells at a lower per-pound price than full fillets. Monkfish is another delicious fish kebabs option. The flesh of this rather ugly fish has a texture closer to lobster than to flaky white fish and stays intact on skewers. Striped bass, mahi-mahi, and Pacific cod loin, the thickest part of a cod fillet, also skewer well and soak up a lemon and herb marinade.
Learn to make Marinated and Grilled Fish Skewers

Grilled Tomato Pizza Sauce

On August 22, 2024August 22, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, grilledLeave a comment

I’m sharing a series of recipes in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon that revolve around grilled tomatoes: first last week’s Grilled Tomato Bloody Mary Mix, continuing this week with a freezable pizza sauce, and next week with a recipe that can be paired with one or both.

We fill a good portion of a large hoop house with tomato plants each year. When the harvested crop starts to pile up in boxes, one of my favorite ways to deal with the overload is to grill the tomatoes. If I’m too busy to process them further, I stockpile the juice and solids separately in freezer-safe containers until I have time to turn them into sauce and more.

In a pizza sauce, grilled tomato solids have a deep, smoky flavor enhanced by grilled onion and garlic, as well as fresh homegrown herbs. I find it most useful to freeze the finished sauce in silicone ice trays that make cubes of various sizes, from a couple of tablespoons to 1-cup portions.
Learn to make Grilled Tomato Pizza Sauce

Grilled Sweet Pepper Sauce

On August 9, 2024August 8, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, grilledLeave a comment

So many vegetables become sweeter and smokier when roasted or grilled, including red bell peppers, as I explain this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. I grill peppers as they ripen throughout the growing season, both to eat immediately and to gather in a zip-close bag in the freezer.

Soft roasted peppers peel more easily if you move them straight from the grill to a paper bag or airtight bowl, let them steam a bit, and then pull off the translucent skin while they’re still warm. They’re easiest to chop uniformly, either by hand or in a food processor, if you first spread them on a tray and freeze them until slightly firm.

When I have a bumper crop of sweet peppers, I grill and puree them into a sauce to use on pizza, pasta, and more. When making sauce, I still remove as much peel as possible, because it tends to be bitter. But I don’t bother chopping the peppers. A high-powered food processor easily breaks down halves or quarters. I’ve been using this food processor for years to make ultrasmooth Grilled Sweet Pepper Sauce.
Learn to make Grilled Sweet Pepper Sauce

Wasabi-Dusted Grilled Shrimp

On July 19, 2024July 18, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, grilledLeave a comment

When I started making sushi at home and then teaching the techniques I use in workshops, wasabi powder became a staple in my kitchen—one I couldn’t resist finding other ways to use. But as I explain this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, there are some tricks to working with wasabi powder and maximizing its flavor. I now treat it like a finishing salt for hot food, sprinkling it on just before serving, like with this week’s grilled shrimp recipe.

But really, I’ve stopped buying wasabi powder and switched to horseradish powder instead. It gives essentially the same effect—which makes sense, because most wasabi sold in the United States is primarily horseradish powder, perhaps with wasabi leaves and stems and artificial colors mixed in. Horseradish powder is usually more affordable and, if you grow horseradish root, easy to make in a well-ventilated space.
Learn to make Wasabi-Dusted Grilled Shrimp

Grilled Portobello Mushrooms

On May 23, 2024 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, grilled2 Comments

I’ve shared several grilled vegetable recipes in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, mostly featuring summer’s harvest. We grill several meals each week in summer, piling on eggplant, corn, and other homegrown vegetables. Yet we get coals going throughout the year, regardless of temperatures and weather. Before the garden produces its first crop of asparagus and after I’ve cut the last broccoli florets of fall, my favorite grilling vegetables are mushrooms.

I briefly explained my technique for smoking and then searing mushrooms when I shared my recipe for Vegan Memphis-Style Barbecue Sauce. The preparation is delicious but takes a few stages. For a simpler approach still loaded with flavor, I marinate the mushrooms, grill them until cooked through, and serve.
Learn to make Grilled Portobello Mushrooms

Home-Smoked Chili Peppers

On September 29, 2023November 18, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, grilledLeave a comment

When I first explored the idea of smoking food at home, I thought I was going to need to spend several hundred dollars on a large pellet smoker. I quickly learned that the typical smoker, while ideal for smoking meats, runs too hot for the food I was interested in smoking: vegetables, nuts, and especially cheese. So George and I started playing with the idea of smoking vegetables, like homegrown chili peppers, in a charcoal kettle grill.

As I explain this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon, our first smoking setup was affordable and low-tech but finicky. It was challenging to light just a handful of briquettes in a charcoal chimney, and we had to replenish the wood chips regularly. With charcoal heat, it could also be a challenge to keep the temperature low enough to smoke cheese, especially in summer. We loved the results but kept searching for a more straightforward process.

Then I stumbled onto smoke tubes, inexpensive perforated cylinders that hold hardwood pellets and burn slow and low for hours. We’ve been using one for the last year of home-smoked food projects, and this summer I tested several additional brands and sizes for The Spruce Eats. Keep an eye on my work for that website to read my reviews when the product roundup goes live.
Learn to make Home-Smoked Chili Peppers

Chipotle Grilled Shrimp

On September 21, 2023November 18, 2023 By Julie Laing | Twice As TastyIn Column, grilledLeave a comment

When I want a quick and easy dinner during harvest season, I often fire up the grill. With an abundance of fresh vegetables at hand, the grill does double duty: lightly cooking while adding flavor to vegetables I want to save for winter and getting off the evening meal before the coals die out.

We might making an entire vegetarian meal from the homegrown produce that comes off the grill on a given night, but shrimp tends to be my go-to protein when I want some skewers on the plate. You can make the recipe I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon with fresh tomatoes, onion, and garlic—or grill these first, whip up the marinade while grilling the next rounds of vegetables, and fire the shrimp last.
Learn to make Chipotle Grilled Shrimp