Grilled onions and peppers are a delicious addition to many Mexican recipes including fajitas and quesadillas. My favorite recipe for grilled onions and peppers includes marinating them and cooking them on a grill. I like to marinade and grill a large amount of vegetables at a time so I can freeze them to use when I do not have as much time to spend marinating and grilling onions and peppers.

Ingredients:

16 bell peppers in a combination of red, green and yellow varieties

4 large Vidalia onions

For the marinade:

1/4 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon grated lime rind

2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 can beef, chicken, or vegetable broth

Directions:

Combine all marinade ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.

Cut each pepper in half and remove seeds. After removing the seeds, cut each pepper into 1/2 inch strips.

Remove the skin from the onions and cut each onion into 1/2 inch wedges.

In a large Ziploc bag, I prefer to use freezer bags since they are sturdier, combine the marinade, peppers, and onions. Place the bag in the refrigerator, turning occasionally to marinate evenly, for at least four hours. I prefer to marinate the vegetables overnight to ensure full flavor.

Heat the grill and place vegetables on a grill pan coated with cooking spray. Reserve the marinade in a saucepan. Place the pan on the grill and cook for four minutes. Turn the vegetables and cook for another four minutes. Remove from grill and place on a serving platter.

If desired, heat the marinade and serve over the grilled vegetables. I like to do this when I am using the onions and peppers for fajitas. If I am using them for quesadillas I will let the vegetables cool and then cut them in half, or in thirds, crosswise to make for a more convenient size to add to the quesadilla filling.

This recipe makes a lot of grilled vegetables. I usually end up freezing three bags of the grilled vegetables to use at a later date. I will cut the vegetables quesadilla size for one of the bags and the remaining two I leave as they were grilled.