Good morning, my dears! I have suffered tremendously with this diary. Formatting? No. Intellectual brilliance? Har! It was the ultimate struggle of choosing a recipe from my stupendous new cookbook, Tender: A Cook and his Vegetable Patch by Nigel Slater. It is not a cookbook for the faint-hearted. If you need exact measurements or detailed instructions ala Julia Childs, don't buy it (e.g. slab of butter, handful of bread crumbs, a bunch of parsley, etc.) For me, it is the ultimate porn of cookbooks. Based on veggies while not being a vegetarian cookbook, it explains each vegetable from its type, to when to plant and in what soil, when to harvest, how to cook and what are the most complimentary herbs, oils, spices, meats, seafood.
I'd be in heaven, but I have the sponsors yelling in my ear to give them their space.
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Now, where was I? Oh, right -- veggies. I've been spending almost a month perusing this cookbook because every recipe is stunning and there is so much I don't know about certain vegetables. I almost fainted in the eggplant section -- good lord, if someone told me I could have the Baked Eggplant with Thyme and Cream recipe if I gave up smoking, I would have quit years ago.
But I didn't pick eggplant -- only because everything kept looking better and better and the book is set up in veggie alphabetical order. I got up to Peppers and pretty much looked like Teresa of Avila in Ecstasy
So, I figured that was something that I wanted to share with my good buddies here (don't get any ideas).
The recipe is actually called "Baked peppers for a summer lunch" but, when I'm at the lake, I don't have an oven -- just two outside propane burners, a grill and a smoker. So, for me, I changed off to using the grill -- but I'll give the baked directions as well.
Grilled Peppers with Cherry Tomatoes
4 large peppers (you decide if you want red, yellow, orange, green or a mix of all of them)
16 or more cherry tomatoes
olive oil
basil leaves -- a couple of handsful
Preheat your grill (or preheat oven to 400 degrees F). Cut the peppers in half lengthwise and discard the seeds and pith. Put the halved peppers, cut side up in a roasting pan (or aluminum pan or even aluminum foil) on the grill (or in the oven in a baking dish).
* Note for grilling: you aren't "roasting" so the skin is not blackened or removed. You are just utilizing the grill like an oven. *
Cut the tomatoes into halves or quarters, depending on size, and season with salt and black pepper. Divide the tomatoes among the peppers. Pour a little olive oil into each pepper and grill (bake) until the tomatoes and peppers are lusciously soft, about 45 minutes to an hour (maybe sooner on grill).
Puree basil leaves and about 1/3 cup olive oil in a blender, then pour into the peppers. The basil dressing will mingle with the warm tomato juices.
I'm the ultimate snob about olive oil. The FDA doesn't regulate olive oil labeling, thus, extra virgin can mean crap. I pay around $18 for 375 ml. (12.68 fl. oz) in a dark bottle (bottle color critical for shelf life) when the olive oil is an important component in a dish (which is basically any amount above a schmear). I keep a cheaper Spanish olive oil on hand for greasing a pan or the grill. I only get my olive oil from Temecula Olive Oil Company. Their artisan olives are incredible and their olive oil soap and butter saved my face from terminal rosacea.
Now the only thing left is to ask the following folks to bring the Porterhouse Steaks, dutchess potatoes, homemade dinner rolls and fine wine/beer!
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