Monday, August 24, 2009

Grilled Chipotle Tomatoes


We need to have a word about these tomatoes.

These have to be the best thing I've ever eaten that came off of a grill. As a vegetarian, I can't get too excited about grilled meats, but I do get excited about smoky, spicy grilled vegetables.
I made these with my parents last week while visiting home. They may look a bit messy or gross from the picture above, but it's easy to forgive them.

Start off with however many tomatoes you'd want (we used plum tomatoes—they're meatier), sliced in half. Squeeze out the tomato gel and salt each open side. Stack cut side down on a plate to drain for 20 minutes or so.

In the meantime, mix an amount of creme fraiche (maybe about a half a cup?) with a diced chipotle pepper and some adobo sauce. You can pick up the canned chipotles and just freeze the rest in small portions for later use. Use your judgement, these can get really spicy.

Grill the tomatoes, cut side down, until they begin to turn black, then flip over and fill the cavity with some of the chipotle sauce. Keep on the grill until they look bubbly and soft.

I had these for dinner with my mom and dad last week, served on grilled slices of italian bread that's been drizzled with olive oil and scraped with garlic. You could put the tomato on the bread and mush it up since they're already very soft from the roasting. They don't taste at all like raw tomatoes (which is a good thing, in my opinion) and they are all you need for a light summer meal.

Recipe originally from Bobby Flay.







Saturday, August 15, 2009

Rosemary Shortbread


I'm back from the west coast, and after a long red-eye flight I jumped right into baking and cooking during my week visiting home.

I had a rosemary shortbread cookie last week at a coffee shop in Berkeley (I think it was called 1 2 3 local? It was really nice.) My mom and I gave it a shot here using fresh rosemary from the garden.

It's amazing what the rosemary flavor and aroma does to complement shortbread. This would be great with a cup of black tea. It was also really easy to make.

Recipe originally from Gourmet Magazine.