Key facts
- Chef Isaac Toups has shared a recipe for grilled vegetables with bacon vinaigrette.
- The recipe is featured in his cookbook "Chasing the Gator."
- The dish requires grilling vegetables on high heat to achieve a charred exterior.
- The bacon vinaigrette is made by blending garlic, anchovies, vinegar, canola oil, and reserved bacon fat.
- The final dish is topped with crumbled bacon.
Chef Isaac Toups, a celebrated culinary figure with multiple James Beard nominations, has shared a recipe for grilled vegetables with a distinctive bacon vinaigrette. The recipe, featured in his cookbook "Chasing the Gator: Isaac Toups and the New Cajun Cooking," emphasizes high-heat grilling to achieve a charred exterior on vegetables while maintaining their crispness.
The preparation involves preheating a grill to high (around 500°F) and an oven to 400°F. Thick-cut bacon is cooked in the oven until crispy, with the rendered fat reserved for the vinaigrette. The vinaigrette itself is created by blending garlic, anchovies, and apple cider vinegar, then slowly incorporating canola oil and the reserved bacon fat. The recipe notes that the vinaigrette will not be fully emulsified, which is expected.
Assorted vegetables, sliced or cut into florets, are tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes before being grilled for approximately two minutes per side. The goal is a charred, crispy finish without overcooking. The grilled vegetables are then combined with the bacon vinaigrette and topped with crumbled bacon. Toups suggests using seasonal vegetables like eggplant, zucchini, radishes, green beans, or radicchio.
Isaac Toups is known for his New Orleans restaurant Toups' Meatery, which he opened with his wife Amanda. He has received accolades such as Eater Young Gun of the South and Eater New Orleans’ Chef of the Year, and has appeared on Top Chef. Jennifer V. Cole, the co-author, previously worked at Southern Living magazine.