Sunday, June 30, 2013

Colorful Cooking


Don't these colors look luscious? Good old Summertime bounty. I'm eating well this weekend. Left to right: Roasted poblanos, chunky gazpacho and bottom right is roasted tomatoes.

I do love gazpacho plain, well maybe with a crusty slice of bread and a bit of avocado garnish. I also love it when I have some boiled shrimp to add to it....along with the crusty slice of bread. This one is fairly simple to make because I use canned diced tomatoes. Then I finely dice cucumber, yellow pepper, onion, serrano pepper, cilantro and a bit of garlic. I add tomato juice or if I have it, I like to split between tomato juice and Bloody Mary mix. I don't know why I can't find Bloody Mary mix in Mexico anymore but I can't. Haven't found any in two or three years. Then of course, I add salt and pepper to taste and sometimes some more serrano if it doesn't have enough kick. I know if you are a gazpacho purist you are covering your eyes and saying derogatory things about my recipe. But that is okay. I understand. You have your standards and I have my gazpacho.

Roasted tomatoes have become one of my very favorite things this year. I keep some roasted tomatoes in the refrigerator most of the time. They make a great snack. Put them on another slice of that crusty bread either plain or with a smear of goat cheese and some arugula and you have a great open-face sandwich. You can add one or two tomatoes to scrambled eggs for breakfast or a light dinner. Of course, you can always cook up a bit of pasta. Saute some onion and garlic, add the tomatoes just to heat through and top  the pasta. A sprinkle of grated Parmesan and you have another quick dinner.

Oh, the way I roast the tomatoes is I cut them in half length-wise. I use a spoon to scoop out the seeds. I toss them with some balsamic vinegar and good olive oil. Put them on a foil lined baking sheet for easy cleanup.  Add about one diced garlic clove for every eight or so tomatoes. Add a few drops of the oil and vinegar mixture that you tossed the tomatoes in to each tomato. A light sprinkling of sugar  and salt. A few grinds of pepper.  Into a 325 degree oven for about 25 minutes. Most of the time before I store them in the refrigerator I slip the skin off.

Another staple that I try to keep in the freezer is roasted poblanos. That means I buy eight or so  of them and roast them over the flame of the gas stove, peel them, scoop out the insides and wrap each separately in plastic wrap. Put them in a freezer bag and they are ready to use one or two or four at a time when I need them. I love poblano mashed potatoes. I have a great creamy corn, poblano and rice casserole recipe. This week I had some left over roasted chicken. I made a quick tomatillo sauce. Then I took out a poblano or two, cut it up and sauteed it with some onion. Added the chicken long enough to heat through. Topped it with the tomatillo sauce and grated some Swiss cheese on top. I know Swiss cheese doesn't sound like it goes with tomatillo sauce but you use what you have on hand.

Some people have told that they miss my blog entries about cooking. I'm not sure what to write. I seldom try a really new book-kind of recipe. I'm just working with what I see in the mercado when I go. What I cook these days is just a little of this and a little of that. I went to the organic market today. So tomorrow for comida I'm having roasted butternut squash, thin roasted slices of beets, sauteed broccoli  with garlic and an arugula salad sprinkled with blue cheese. That sounds like a colorful comida, doesn't it?

6 comments:

  1. You are such a creative cook. I do enjoy your food blogs with photos, and they inspire me to try some new things. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Connie, thanks. I do find that I'm shopping and cooking differently these days but cooking is still a creative outlet for me.

      Delete
  2. Made the roasted tomatoes today, except I grilled them. Your recipe was very good! It's interesting how the taste differs when something is roasted.
    I will have like to make the gaspacho and add cucumber. It looks delicious.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Andean, glad to read that grilling works too. Let me know how your chunky gaspacho turns out.

      Delete
  3. I will have to try your roasted tomatoes recipe. I love tomatoes especially in Central America.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Laurie, I have about decided that I like the roasted tomatoes better than I do the raw ones. It seems like the tomato flavor is more concentrated in the roasted tomatoes.

      Delete