* HOST: Move over brisket and pork shoulder, make way for meatless grilling, like...lip-stinging Nashville hot cauliflower.

That is hot.

But behind the heat, nice smoke flavor.

Smoked acorn squash with creamy Parmesan flan.

Absolutely delectable.

And that Franco-Swiss apr�s ski classic, raclette, here served hot off the grill.

Buttery, piquant herb-scented, and crisp.

Today, it's killer barbecue, hold the meat.

From the Pearlstone Campus in Reisterstown, Maryland, I'm Steven Raichlen and this is Project Fire .

* ANNOUNCER: Steven Raichlen's Project Fire is made possible by...

This is The Big Green Egg, where fire and flavor come together.

You can roast, bake, and sear with the versatility of a grill, oven, and barbecue smoker combined.

Locate a dealer at biggreenegg.com.

Fire Magic, combining style with the versatility to sear, smoke, rotisserie cook, and charcoal grill, crafted in America for over 80 years... Green Mountain Grills, wood fired pellet grills... Blue Rhino...

Truly wireless temperature starts with Maverick.

And by the following... * STEVEN: You don't need a degree in smoke and fire to know that vegetables have hit the grill big time.

Vegetables we traditionally grill, like peppers, corn, and zucchini.

Vegetables we once would never have dreamt of grilling such as cauliflower and acorn squash.

Veggies for hardcore carnivores who crave the health benefits of incorporating more plant foods into their diet or simply want killer accompaniments for their favorite grilled meats.

Veggies for everyone, omnivores, flexivores, vegetarians, vegans, who delight in the smokiness and supernatural sweetness live fire imparts to plant and dairy foods.

Never have so many forward-thinking grill masters and chefs brought so much creativity to what for decades was relegated to side dishes.

[fire swooshes in] * Hi, Steven.

It's Ariana from Italy.

I want to know how to make a vegetarian barbecue because I have vegetarian friends and I have no idea.

Thank you.

You are the best.

[fire swooshes in] STEVEN: Excellent question, Ariana.

I'm not a vegetarian, but my daughter is.

And more and more people are asking me about meatless grilling, which brings me to our first dish, Nashville hot cauliflower.

* Start with a whole head of cauliflower and break off the green leaves.

Cauliflower is a fantastic vegetable.

A whole head of cauliflower has fewer calories than a muffin and more vitamin C than an orange.

* Using a paring knife trim off the end of the stem, but you want to leave some of the stem intact, so it holds the florets in place.

Now, using a carving fork, prick the cauliflower on all sides.

This will help foster the absorption of the marinade.

The traditional marinade for Nashville hot chicken starts with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

And the fire power comes from cayenne pepper.

I'm going to add about two tablespoons.

This is really hot.

Then, about a tablespoon of sweet paprika, granulated garlic for flavor, and granulated onion.

And about two tablespoons of vegetable oil which will help keep the cauliflower moist.

And finally, a traditional Southern flavoring, buttermilk.

Whisk these ingredients together.

* [taps the whisk on the bowl] And there's your marinade.

Add the cauliflower.

Just turn it, so we coat the cauliflower with marinade on all sides.

Marinate the cauliflower for at least four hours, or as long as overnight.

The longer, the better.

[fire swooshes in] Tradition calls for deep frying the Nashville hot, but I'm going to use a technique called "smoke roasting."

I have fired up a ceramic cooker with natural lump charcoal.

And to generate the smoke flavor, I'll add chunks of hickory.

Hickory is the traditional smoke flavor of the American South.

To prepare your ceramic cooker for indirect grilling, insert the convector plate.

This will block direct exposure to the heat.

Then, insert your grill grate.

Here's a cauliflower that I have marinated for 12 hours.

So, I'll place it on the grill.

If you have any extra marinade, you can just pour it over.

Adjust the vents, bottom vent open a little bit wider, top fan a little wider, to obtain a temperature of 400 degrees.

Cooking time will be one to one and a half hours depending on the size of the cauliflower.

Meanwhile, let me show you how to prepare the cayenne pepper baste.

Sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, brown sugar for sweetness, cayenne pepper for heat.

And the cayenne is really the heart and soul of this dish.

Sweet paprika for an earthy flavor.

And then, your aromatics, granulated garlic, granulated onion.

And we'll add melted butter and extra-virgin olive oil.

And whisk these ingredients together to form a grainy paste.

Start basting the Nashville hot cauliflower after 30 minutes.

Mmph, you can smell the hickory smoke.

* And close the grill lid.

You'll baste every 20 to 30 minutes.

* [fire swooshes in] It's been an hour and a half and the cauliflower sure looks done.

But to test it, insert a slender bamboo skewer.

When it pierces the cauliflower easily, the cauliflower is ready.

You just put one final coat of basting mixture on the outside.

You can see how tender the cauliflower looks.

Then, carefully transfer the cauliflower to a plate.

So here...folks, is your Nashville hot cauliflower.

Let's take a slice and see how we did.

* By way of a sauce, I mixed the remaining buttermilk marinade with a little sour cream.

So, I'll just spoon that over.

And now the moment I've been waiting for.

Mmm...wow...that is hot.

But behind the heat, nice smoke flavor.

And what I like about smoke roasting is that the cauliflower stays firm.

You know, so often cauliflower is soft and mushy.

So there you have it, folks, Nashville hot cauliflower.

[fire swooshes in] * [goat bleating] Jakir, tell me about Pearlstone.

JAKIR: Well...Steven, this is a very special place, a place where you can come and rest, restore, relax, rejuvenate.

Really just trying to live our values and help people have amazing experiences here.

STEVEN: I feel it.

JAKIR: Me too.

* STEVEN: It's a funny thing, I came to day camp here, Camp Milldale, many, many years ago.

It sure has changed.

JAKIR: This place has so much history to it.

So many generations of kids have come up here.

And since then, I mean now with the help of the Pearlstone family and the Associated Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore, we're now a 180 acre... STEVEN: Wow.

JAKIR: ...immersive experience campus.

* STEVEN: Tell me about the farm.

JAKIR: Well, Steven, the farm is really our living laboratory for sustainability.

We bring people out to learn.

We have so many different school groups, so many retreat groups.

And for everyone, we're trying to empower them that this is what it means to eat healthy, this is what it means to grow your own food and it's really accessible to everyone.

STEVEN: And what do you do with all this food?

JAKIR: So, we have over 20,000 people that come out here every year, and they often enjoy produce that we grow right here on the land.

These leafy green crops are going to be distributed to people in need during this crisis, this pandemic.

STEVEN: And I love the fact that it's an organic farm.

I always say where your food comes from, how it's raised matters as much as how you grill it.

This is the kind of food, I want to be grilling.

JAKIR: Me too.

And it's so important, what we put in our soil is really what we're putting in our bodies.

And we're really just trying to raise that awareness, and encourage everyone to take responsibility, and to make choices in our lives, and improve our health, and the health of our planet.

STEVEN: That's fantastic.

[fire swooshes in] * CREW MEMBER: Little... [inaudible] CREW MEMBER 2: Temperature should... [inaudible] STEVEN: Yeah, it should be 400.

[fire swooshes in] Acorn squash is one of my favorite vegetables for grilling.

The high, dry heat of the fire intensifies its natural sweetness.

The rotund shape is perfect for stuffing, for example, with a creamy Parmesan flan.

And if that sounds good, just wait until you taste the wood smoke.

* To smoke the squash, I'm using a pellet smoker.

You fuel it with these apple wood pellets, which I'll add to the hopper.

Then, close the hopper lid.

Inside the pellet grill, I have two salt slabs.

These come from a salt mountain in the Himalayas, about an inch and a half thick.

And the beauty of roasting squash on a salt slab, first of all the salt imparts a delicate flavor, helps keep the squash moist, and it looks really cool and never underestimate the importance of looking cool at the grill.

So, I'll close the lid.

Heat both the salt slabs and the smoker to 400 degrees.

Meanwhile, cut the acorn squash in half from tip to stem end.

Then, using an ice cream scoop, scoop out the seeds and pulp.

Don't discard the squash seeds.

You can clean the pulp off of them, toss the seeds with extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast them on your grill.

They make a great, crunchy snack.

Mexicans call them "pepitas."

The next thing you want to do is just cut a slice off the rounded part of the squash, so the squash sits steady and upright.

Now, brush the cut sides of the squash with extra-virgin olive oil and season with coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Then, transfer your squash to a sheet pan, bring the squash to your pellet grill, and arrange the halves, cut side down on the salt slabs.

And close the grill lid, roast the squash halves until just tender, 30 to 40 minutes.

* STEVEN: To make the flan mixture, crack two large eggs into a bowl and beat well with a whisk.

I'm going to break up the egg really thoroughly.

Gradually whisk in one and a half cups of heavy cream.

* Then, one cup of freshly and finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

Now, I always like to add a little nutmeg into a flan mixture to add a touch of musky sweetness.

By the way, nutmeg was once the most expensive spice in the world.

In fact, the Dutch traded Manhattan for a tiny island in the Indonesian Archipelago that at the time was the only source of nutmeg in the world.

Back to the grill.

It's been 30 minutes, and by touch, I can feel that the squash halves are cooked.

They're gently yielding.

Take a spatula and turn each squash half over.

Take your custard mixture and ladle it into the hollow part of the squash.

* Close the lid and continue cooking the squash for another 20 minutes or until the custard is set.

I can't wait.

[fire swooshes in] It's been 20 minutes and check out these squash.

They look really nice, huh?

The way you test for doneness, you give the squash a shake and you can see the custard is set there.

And I like to serve the squash right on the salt slab.

Of course, you want to remind people that the salt lab is hot.

And just by way of a garnish, I can sprinkle a few of these toasted squash seeds on top.

And I'll sprinkle a few fresh chives on top for color.

All right, let's see how we did.

* Mmm...oh...man.

It's sweet.

It's smoky.

It's creamy.

It's cheesy.

And absolutely delectable.

Love that little blast of nutmeg.

Up next, raclette deconstructed and reconstructed Project Fire style.

[fire swooshes in] * [yodeling] The potatoes need a little more cooking, so meanwhile, I'll grill the cheese.

Speaker 9: This is marinated grilling cheese.

STEVEN: And then Nora, if you can just kind of be around while I set this up, okay?

[fire swooshes in] Picture a freezing winter night in an alpine ski lodge.

You gather with friends in front of a roaring fire.

Someone produces a slab of cheese which you melt in front of the fireplace.

You scrape the cheese over boiled potatoes and pickles.

The French call it "raclette."

I call it some of the best grilled cheese on planet barbecue.

* It's a bit warm for a fireplace, but we do have a wood-burning grill.

Lay a couple logs on the fire.

Now, traditional raclette, you serve the melted cheese over boiled potatoes, but you know Raichlen's rule, if it tastes good boiled, fried, or saut�ed, it tastes even better grilled.

Start with the potatoes and we'll cut them into one-inch chunks.

These are Purple Peruvian potatoes.

And then, we have Russian Bananas.

And finally, Ruby Crescents.

Take a bamboo skewer and skewer the potatoes, placing a sage leaf in between each potato.

* Next, skewer the mushrooms.

Go through the stem end, a sage leaf.

You can use cremini mushrooms like these, button mushrooms, or exotic mushrooms like shiitake's or oyster mushrooms.

Raclette is traditionally served with cornichons, those tiny French pickles, and I'll skewer those crosswise.

* And next, pickled onions.

And again, I'll place them on the skewer.

The idea here is that the acidity, and the pickled onions, and cornichons counter balance the richness of the melted cheese.

Here are your vegetables, a little more elaborate than what would be done in a traditional raclette.

And to keep the potato skewers from burning, I'm simply going to wrap them in aluminum foil.

Some people say to soak the skewers.

I find that the aluminum foil gives you more protection.

I'd also like to call your attention to these broccolini stalks.

I thought that would round out the raclette nicely.

To season the vegetables, brush them with extra-virgin olive oil.

* Now, season the vegetables with coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

And for a Mediterranean touch, dried basil.

And hot pepper flakes to notch off the heat.

I have built a lively wood fire and as always on Project Fire , we keep it hot, one Mississippi, two Mississippi, ouch.

We keep it clean.

And we keep it lubricated by dipping an oiling cloth in a bowl of vegetable oil and drawing it across the grate.

Then arrange your vegetables on the grill grate.

The potatoes will take the longest to cook.

Then, the broccolini.

Then, the mushrooms.

Then, the onions.

And finally, the cornichon pickles.

The beauty of working over a wood fire, you get heat from the fire but you also get wood smoke.

Cooking time on the potatoes 10 to 15 minutes, little bit shorter on the broccolini, mushrooms a little bit shorter.

No need to rush this.

Remember, raclette is not just a dish, it's a party.

* While, the veggies grill, baste them with more extra-virgin olive oil.

This will keep them nice and moist.

* When the vegetables are ready, take them off the grill.

Remember the onions and cornichons are pickled already.

They don't need a lot of cooking.

Just a little wood smoke.

* Mushrooms are ready and the broccolini.

And you can see the edges on the broccolini are nice and crisp.

I'll leave the potatoes on.

They need to grill for a little longer.

For the raclette, I'm using a pre-marinated grilling cheese.

And you grill it right in the foil pan.

* Once the cheese is browned on the bottom, using a small spatula turn it over and grill the other side the same way.

Finally, we'll give the potatoes one more turn.

* And when the potatoes are squeezably soft, they're ready.

So, I'll place the potatoes on the platter.

And you can take the foil off.

* And you can see the skewers have not burnt at all.

So here are your grilled vegetables, nice and fragrant with wood smoke.

And now, the grilled cheese.

And we'll arrange the cheese on top of the vegetables.

In French to scrape, as in scraping the cheese, is racler, hence the word raclette.

* You know the drill.

Let's see how we did.

* And our grilled cheese on top.

And with this, a nice crisp Sauvignon Blanc.

* All right.

So, let's try a piece of potato.

* Crisp and smoky.

Then, a broccolini.

Those florets crackling crisp.

A mushroom.

Mmm, nice sage flavor.

Pickled onion for tartness.

And the cheese...mm, which is buttery, piquant herb-scented, and crisp.

* And a sip of Sauvignon Blanc.

The acidity really shows off the smoky cheese.

So that's our show, killer barbecue, hold the meat.

Thanks for watching.

See you next time.

For recipes and more live-fire cooking, visit stevenraichlen.com.

You can also follow Steven Raichlen on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Steven's book, "How to Grill Vegetables," and the classic, "Project Smoke," can be ordered online at stevenraichlen.com, or call this phone number for ordering and customer service.

ANNOUNCER: Steven Raichlen's Project Fire was made possible by...

This is The Big Green Egg, where fire and flavor come together.

You can roast, bake, and sear with the versatility of a grill, oven, and barbecue smoker combined.

Locate a dealer at biggreenegg.com.

Fire Magic, combining style with the versatility to sear, smoke, rotisserie cook, and charcoal grill, crafted in America for over 80 years... Green Mountain Grills, wood fired pellet grills... Blue Rhino...

Truly wireless temperature starts with Maverick.

And by the following... STEVEN: Picture a freezing winter night in an alpine ski lodge.

You and friend...

Ski lidge?

Ski lodge.

Maybe I can be a stage manager when I grow up.

Transfer the pellets to a heated bar that will make them smoke.

Whoops, you didn't see that did you?

You want to find our grill brush.

Whoo, that is hot.

Hey, with a little practice, I could get used to this.

* *