Grill This! 13 Unlikely Foods to Throw on the Grill Fine Cooking

I'm starting to understand why grilling inspires such fervor and devotion among so many cooks. Once you get bitten by the grill bug, you start eying everything in the kitchen in terms of "Will it grill?" Which is why this round-up of unlikely, but very grillable, foods in the most recent Fine Cooking spoke right to my char-loving heart.

I am all about grilling pizzas and flatbreads (two of Fine Cooking's suggestions), so their idea to add quesadillas to that list fits perfectly with my love of seared carbohydrates. Add to this Fine Cooking's reminder that aged provolone and halloumi are totally grillable, and I have all my favorite food groups.

Their idea of grilling nuts in little tin-foil packets made my eyes pop. Can you imagine what these crisp, smoky morsels would add to salads and granola? Or even better: ground into a nut butter for grown-up PB&J?

In the cocktail department, I can't wait to try grilling olives and herbs to stir into my martinis. That just sounds crazy delicious to me.

I could go on and on here (yeah, I have the grilling bug for sure), but it's better that you go check it out yourselves. The full list of "13 Things You Didn't Know You Could Grill" is in the June/July 2011 issue of Fine Cooking. You can see an abbreviated version with links to recipes on their website:

• 10 Foods You Thought You Couldn't Grill from Fine Cooking

What's the most unusual, yet surprisingly awesome, thing that you've ever grilled?

Related: Round-Up: Grilled Desserts

(Images: Fine Cooking)

Comments (14)

A couple unusual grilled items I have done were halved grapefruits, long sliced plantains, rhubarb, and lemons/limes that were destined for cocktails. That last one really changed the end flavor of the cocktail.

Honestly, I'm of the mind that any food can be grilled if you put your mind to it.

those are all pretty usual to grill (or so I thought) except for the lettuce and the herbs for a cocktail. I mean really, who doesn't grill bread or corn?

I love to make smoothies out of grilled pineapple and mango. So good.

I grill peaches and figs with a drizzle of olive oil great for salads or simply toss on a bed of arugala add thinly sliced red onion and spiced pecans.
I love grilled Halloumi cheese drizzled with olive oil, sprinkle with oregano and lemon serve with pita and kalamata olives or use to make a Greek salad.

I grill lettuce all the time with a little balsamic reduction drizzled over. Delicious!

Grilled Romaine with Crema di Balsamico

Gotta agree with tollitollison, I thought most of these were pretty common.

Cake is a new one for me, though. I would never have thought of that!

Fava beans can be grilled (still in the shell, obviously).

Grilled angel food cake!!!!!

I grilled prosciutto-wrapped pears a few weeks ago and they were incredible. Really curious about grilling limes and lemons for cocktails - gonna have to try that.

Grilled peaches filled with almond paste are my favorite summer dessert. I love making pizza on a grill too. Think I'll try grilling limes/lemons/herbs for cocktails, sounds interesting.

I've done the grilled lettuce and it's terrible. I think raddichio would be delicious, though.

Oh, HelsBells, that sounds fantastic! I grill peaches and other stonefruits, but it never occurred to me to plump 'em full of almond paste --- what a great idea!

Pineapple is always delicious! You don't even have to core it, once cooked it becomes soft and caramelized ... sooo good!