I’ve been looking for a new veggie pan for a while. The first one I bought was one of those fry pans with holes in the side and a removable handle. It was okay, but the veggies would more stew in their own juices than they would roast. Then I got the Weber grill pan (which need a little “reforming” to fit on the Big Green Egg). It’s great for getting a quick char on flat rounds of bread or slices of onion, or to hold a bunch of , but it doesn’t let the heat get around the food so one side tends to burn before the other side is done.
Enter the steel grill roaster from Williams-Sonoma, a gift from my dear wife. It’s perforated stainless steel, so the food gets directly exposed to the flame, but it’s raised up a bit (via a grid under the pan) so it cooks more evenly.
To try it out I tossed a couple of sliced onions, some halved mushrooms, some sliced yellow and green peppers in a bowl and hit them with a glug of balsamic vinegar, a couple of glugs of olive oil, and a few grinds of sea salt. I gave them a shake and let them marinate while I got the grill ready.
I got the grill up to 400°F and put the grill roaster on by itself for about 5 minutes to heat it up. Using a slotted spoon, I moved the veggies to the pan, reserving the marinade.
I roasted the veggies for about 10 minutes, stirring them often, until the peppers had softened and everything had a little char on it. I took the roaster off the heat and dumped the veggies back into the bowl with the marinade and gave them a shake to coat them.
Then I cranked the heat up to about 750°F and give these bad boys a no-frills, hot & fast grilling.
The Verdict: 
The steak was great, but for once the meat isn’t the hero of this story. The grill roaster did an excellent job and I plan on giving it a real workout this summer. The perforations let the juices drain off so the veggies roasted instead of stewed. At 12×14 it’s plenty big – I could have done twice the amount of veggies and still had room to move things around. The raised design and slopping sides keep everything cook evenly.
Clean up went pretty well. It’s dishwasher safe, but the label (yes, I did read it) says to hand wash. I just let it soak overnight and wiped it off the next day. Since it’s solid metal with holes in it, not mesh, there weren’t a lot of surfaces that food could stick to.
those veggies look DELICIOUS! i will add this roaster to my wish list. 🙂
That is my kind of steak. I have looked at the WS basket and passed because of the price.
I will have to put that veggie roaster on my wish list! I have a perforated grill pan with a handle that does a good job, but the handle doesn’t come off. That really limits its position on the egg to one side, so that the lid will shut. I had not thought of “reforming” it….
Very nice veggie roaster! I need to get a good roaster like this. I wish my wife still worked there part time because of their great employee discount.
The funny thing is that the pan happened by accident. My dear wife was returning something else to WS and happened to spot the pan while she was there. She called and asked if it might be something I’d be interested in ;).
I’m a lucky guy.