GRILLED TOMATOES - POMODORI ALLA BRACE

... just a small gift to all the friends from abroad ... that are lately increasing!

I promised ... and I usually keep promises: I told you that we would have grilled something different from meat ... and here we are!

Have you ever tried to grill tomatoes on bbq? Nothing so exotic, you will say ... probable, but if you don't really know what they taste like... please don't give it for granted. 

It is not like roast tomatoes in the oven. It is something VERY different.

Tomatoe's pulp gets more and more tender, keeps all its juice, and takes that wonderful  burned aftertaste ... UNIQUE!

I tried different kind of tomatoes and I have to say that the best to grill are costoluto tomatoes. ( http://www.dimeoremo.it/varieta_pomodoro_costoluto.html ) or cuore di bue tomatoes ( http://www.dimeoremo.it/varieta_pomodoro_cuore_di_bue.html ).

By the way, search for red, big, pulpy and compact tomatoes. Avoid green salad tomatoes, san marzano tomatoes and small datterini or pachino tomatoes.

The way I grill tomatoes ... well, I don't really know if the traditional bbq academy would agree with it, but I'm really satisfied with my long, patient and low fire cooking procedure. While cooking tomatoes, of course, you can cook anything else, like jacked potatoes (I know, folks, I have nothing to teach you on that topic ...).

The trick is to keep the grill sufficiently high from the charcoal fire, otherwise you will have a different result, maybe as good as this one, maybe you'll love it, but different.
You see, I did not use the bbq grill, which woud be too near to the fire. I put another grill over the bbq ... let's say that between the grill and the fire you have more than 20 cm. Do not put the tomatoes right in the middle of the grill, but a little bit aside, where the heat is lower.

You start by putting tomatoes face-up,  and you keep them that way for about 20 minutes; then you turn them face down for other 10 minutes.

And it's a done deal!

You can match tomatoes with a grilled scamorza

or taste them on their own, with a oil/salt/pepper/rosemary dressing.

Oh oh, we forgot potatoes ... but fortunately they don't need to be looked after!

What cheese do you have in the fridge? Ok, it goes! Mix it with a sip of milk, add just a little butter and parmesan, warm it all softly, add some pepper and dress up your potatoe fot the party!!!