Recipe: Cast Iron Vegetables with Smoked Tomato Coulis

I often smoke tomatoes in the oven over hickory chips with olive oil, sea salt, and cracked black pepper. This process takes about an hour, but when time or weather does not permit, this short cut works fine.

Oven Smoked Tomatoes
makes 1 dozen

    • 1 dozen Roma tomatoes, cut in quarters and placed on a rimmed baking sheet
    • 1 tablespoon sea salt
    • 1 tablespoon cracked black pepper

Mix 1/2 a cup of olive oil with 3 tablespoons of liquid hickory smoke and drizzle over cut roma tomatoes then sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Bake at 300 degrees for 45 minutes.

Tomato Coulis
makes 2 quarts (freezes well and is great to have on hand)

    • 2 tablespoons olive oil
    • 1 medium onion
    • 3 medium carrots
    • 3 cups canned, diced tomatoes in juice
    • 1 dozen smoked Roma tomatoes (recipe above)
    • 2 tablespoons pickled jalapeno
    • 8 each fresh basil leaves
    • 5 cloves garlic
    • 2 bay leaves

Head the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Cut the onion into 8 pieces and carrots into 4 pieces and saute for 5 minutes.

Into the same pot add the tomatoes, jalapenos, basil, garlic, and bay leaves. Cook over medium heat for 35 to 40 minutes. Remove the bay leaves and pour into food processor. Use the pulse button of the processor to coarsely puree the sauce (you don't want it soupy).

Cast Iron Vegetables

    • 1 eggplant, sliced into