the Friday Feeding; VOL. 90

We’re still cookin’ with gas!  Local produce is here and lots is happening around the store! 

What’s new…

We’ve loading up our calendar for the end of summer and into Fall. Check it out by clicking here…

Fire roasting.

t’s still hot so most of us are continuing our real cooking outside.  Not a bother for many of us and, in fact, is a culinary opportunity to experiment with new flavors.  Cooking on fire produces an unmistakeable flavor profile that you just can’t get in the oven or in a frying pan.

Flame licking at food condenses its natural sugars and acids deepening the food’s inherent flavor while adding that hint of savory smoke.  Boil an ear of corn or put it on the grill…one sweet/buttery and one syrupy/savory.  Steam bell peppers or put them on the grill…they’re like a completely different vegetable.  Chop up fresh tomatoes for your salsa or char them first…the flame helps bring out the glutamate and amino acids in them to produce that Umami* taste sensation when salt is added to your dish.  And charring meat?  The same thing goes.

This time of year I am consistently fire roasting.  The Street Corn Salad I make for the store features blackened kernels and fire roasted peppers; I think this is why it tastes so good.  At home we are fire roasting corn and charring tomatoes for our salsas and we love grilled vegetables along with our grilled meats.

Here is a great salsa recipe for you to try at home.  I use my old metal steamer basket for roasting with.  It goes on my stove top open flame or the grill outside.  It has had a good life but it might be time to replace it.  When I do I will unscrew the legs that it comes with so it sits flat…you can do the same.

Fire Roasted Summer Salsa

Place your metal “basket” on an open flame; either stove top or a bar-b-que. (Gas grills don’t get the flame close enough to the food).

Into the basked add a portion at a time:

• approximately 1 lb. of either cherry or roma tomatoes. (NOTE: large tomatoes can be used too but there will not be as much smoky flavor because of less surface area touching the flame).

Toss/flip the tomatoes until all sides are slightly blackened, scooping each batch into a bowl then cooking more until the full pound is charred.

Do the same for:

• approximately 1/4 lb. of peppers either mild or spicy to your liking. Any grocery store long pepper can be used or try something different from the store’s gardens.

When peppers are charred, place them in a covered bowl or pot to steam for 10 minutes. Remove them and rinse off the loosened skins, leaving some of the charred bits for flavor. Remove stem and seeds. NOTE: if you are roasting hot peppers be sure to wear gloves to avoid burning your fingers. Work with a window open too; believe it or not, when rinsing them, fumes arise toward you face. I always cough and sneeze while rinsing hot peppers!

Meanwhile sauté until soft:

• 1/4 cup chopped yellow onion
• 2 large cloves of fresh garlic, minced
• 2T extra virgin olive oil

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Toss the tomatoes and peppers, that you have broken into pieces, into a food processor along with the cooked onion/garlic. Chop 5 to 10 times until the mixture is broken up but still a bit chunky. If you don’t have a food processor, you can chop this mixture by hand saving all the juices.

Put the finished slurry into a bowl and add:

• 1T wine vinegar
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 1/2 tsp white sugar

Mix this all together and chill. Serve with tortilla chips for dipping or serve along side any grilled food to dip in. Really good!

• Umami is the 5th flavor profile that our senses recognize. Known as the “savory” component, it is said that we cannot satisfy our cravings unless this is present in our food.

Our final outdoor concert of the season is in two weeks. Thanks to the Friends of Canterbury Center group and local businesses like ours who sponsored this really fun, heels-kicking’ event! Dave will be making pizza again..

Have a good week-end,

Jane and Dave