Recipes Using Fire-Roasted Vegetables

As the seasons change at La Vista, we’re starting to slow down a little. Summer’s bounty of beans, tomatoes, peppers and okra is evolving into Asian spicy greens, eggplant and butternut squash. We’re gathering the last of the herbs from the garden, including bundles of basil. Some shareholders will make pesto to freeze and use over the winter.

Like much of the country it seems, we had a pretty rough August. We had so little rain for so many days that we lost some of our plants. Farmer Eric had to sow multiple plantings of carrots because the young plants baked in the hot sun.

The fields look greener even though we still are short on rain and we all have a little extra bounce in our step because of the cooler temperatures.

Our farmers, Eric and Crystal, are very creative. Eric built a simple wood-fired cob oven and the two held a workshop to demonstrate its use. Their Cooking with Herbs/ Wood Fire Grill workshop featured recipes such as Grilled Butternut Squash and Flash Fried Sage Bisque, Fire-roasted Peppers and Rosemary Flat Breads. For dessert, Crystal made Peppermint Pesto Brownies.

Following is a recipe using fire-roasted vegetables available at the farm this time of year. The green tomatoes, peppers and onions all pick up a nice smoky flavor with the use of this grill.

This makes an amazing addition to guacamole!

6 green tomatoes (grilled to perfection)
1 jalapeno (grilled)
2 poblano peppers (grilled)
1 onion (grilled and then chopped)
4 cloves of garlic
1 lime
1/2 bunch of fresh cilantro
sea salt & pepper

1. Grill the tomatoes, peppers and onion until roasted and lightly charred
2. Chop tomatoes and peppers. Throw them into a food processor with the juice of 1 lime and salt and pepper
3. Chop the onions and cilantro very fine and add to the salsa

This is the ninth in a series of monthly hubs I’ll be writing in 2011 about La Vista Community Supported Garden in Godfrey, Illinois. I joined La Vista in 2005 and became a member of its board of directors a year later. This series – La Vista: Nurturing land and people – will take the reader through a year at the farm, sharing the struggles and triumphs of operating a CSA and the benefits of membership. I hope you find this series useful and interesting and, as always, feel free to leave a comment.

Next month: Autumn on the farm