Since I have the very nice wood pellet grill and a counter full of tomatoes, I decided it was time to do some roasting.

I chose fire roasting over smoking because I was looking for the sweet/charred flavor vs. smoky. Smoking is at a lower temperature for a longer time. Worth the time if you want a deep smoke flavor.

For fire roasting:

Fire Roasted Tomatoes

• Tomatoes, washed and sliced in half
• baking sheet
• parchment paper

Preheat grill to 450 degrees F

Arrange the tomatoes, skin-side down on the parchment paper.  Place on the grill, close the lid and let roast for about 15-minutes, until a good char has developed on the skin side. Flip over and let continue roasting for an additional 5-minutes.

Remove and let cool completely.

What you do at this point depends on how you are going to use them. They are great in soups and sauces, so I ran them through my vita-mix until smooth. I do on remove peels or seeds – I’ve never understood that – because I think you lose a lot of flavor that way.

I bagged them up and froze them for fall soups and sauces.

Bonus Recipe: Roasted Pablano Chiles 

I have a recipe for Creamy Roasted Poblano Soup, and I usually buy frozen, roasted chiles. Since I was roasting things, I decided to think ahead and bought a few at the local farmer’s market.

These I roasted whole on the grill. the stems come in handy for turning.

After washing, place on a 500 degree F grill. Let char on each side (usually about 5-minutes, then turn). Keep turning until all sides are good and charred.

Remove from the grill and quickly cover – you can use a paper bag, a plastic bag (not my fave) or I put them in a large covered casserole dish.

Let them steam until cooled. The stems and seeds will pull right out. Skins should slip off, but I had a bit of trouble – so I sliced them open to lie flat and used a serrated knife to quickly strip the remaining skins.

These I froze whole in recipe-sized packets to be used as the weather cools for yummy soup.

No photos because I completely forgot. Next batch!

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