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Musical pairing – A Face To Call Home by John Mayer
Even though summer isn’t officially over until September 21st and warmer temperatures still prevail, fall is in the air. Can you feel it? I do. Darkness comes earlier in the evening, crickets ‘cricket’ and the air is filled with that familiar scent of the leaves beginning to change color and will soon fall to the ground.
This past weekend The Professor and I took a day and headed outside to tend our neglected gardens; the long summer drought had taken its toll and I’m convinced the only things that survived were the weeds. When we finally saw rain, it was like watching a scene from Jack and the Beanstalk – everything seem to shoot up from the ground right before our eyes! Tall grass, weeds, crabgrass, and sticker bushes seemed to thrive.
Shoveling, pulling, yanking, dumping, raking, troweling, kneeling, reaching, bending and sitting – lawd have mercy, I think I may have invented a few new Yoga poses . . . and yes, Tylenol was a constant companion. But it felt good to be out in the sunshine where temperatures didn’t feel like I lived in hell, to stretch this old body and having the satisfaction of digging in the dirt and seeing the bucket-loads of happy, happy worms. It was a glorious weekend!
Our CSA boxes have been loaded with sweet peppers – which we love; The Professor usually takes a few of the baby ones to dip in hummus for a quick snack between classes. I’ve roasted and blended them into soup and I’ve also made peppered pasta sauce – but sometimes we enjoy them simply roasted in olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper – so easy that most of the time I don’t even bother to peel the skins off because they’re so tender.
Set a plate of these on the table with good artisan bread, some cheese, olives, prosciutto and a good bottle of wine and you have a great anti-pasta . . . or as in our case, dinner is served.
I’m ready. Bring on Fall!
ROASTED SWEET PEPPERS
NOTE: This is more a method than it is a real recipe so I’m not giving measurements; if using the smaller peppers like I did here, I don’t even bother peeling the blistered skins off because they’re so tender. If you use the larger bell peppers, then go ahead and slip those skins off before serving – I find them a bit tough.
INGREDIENTS:
- Sweet bell peppers
- Shallots
- Cherry tomatoes (singles, stems attached – doesn’t matter)
- Fresh thyme sprigs
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Salt/pepper
METHOD:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees
- Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil and set aside
- Rinse peppers and cut the tops off; remove seeds and slice in half lengthwise
- Peel shallots and quarter
- Rinse cherry tomatoes but leave whole
- Place pepper halves, shallots and cherry tomatoes in a large bowl and drizzle with a bit of olive oil; how much you use will depend on how many peppers/shallots/tomatoes you’re using. You want the veg mixture to be coated but not swimming in oil
- Spread vegetables onto sheet pan; sprinkle with 3-5 sprigs of fresh thyme, salt/pepper
- Place sheet pan into oven and bake for about 25-30 minutes; you’re looking for the vegetables to be soft and ‘wrinkly’ with a bit of char around the edges – you’re NOT looking for burned
- Cool completely; plate, drizzle with a bit more olive oil, salt/pepper and serve
My garden turned into a monster once July hit. It’s been a crazy season. So glad fall is finally here but sure hate that I missed this recipe a couple of weeks back. Will be good for next year when the tomatoes and peppers are coming out of my ears!
I was a little disappointed with the summer this year. It came and went but I seemed to have missed it. Except the heat. That I remember. GREG
Toss this on a pita with some fresh mozzarella and pop under a broiler until the bread is warmed and the cheese blistered – YUM! Thank you for dinner inspiration!
This recipe looks so wonderful and comforting! As far as the tree leaves changing, not where I am (in Florida). I WISH the tree leaves changed by me but we have green all year long.
This is THE BEST time of year for a simple roasted pepper and tomato salad. Well done indeed!
(I can’t abide the skins. They must come off. Then again, I do like to broil those little suckers.)