Roast Tomatoes!!

ready for consumption!!

With Tortillas and hard boiled eggs! Mmmm…

It is something I remember my grandma making for us when I was little. We grew up poor, eating simple but delicious food. My uncles and grandfather grew tomatoes, okra, sweet peppers, pretty much everything, and my grandma raised chickens and more. It was all about living off the land!!

One of the things that I remember most is the roasted heirloom tomatoes. She had a firehearth (fogon), and would place the tomatoes on the hot coals and they would sizzle and roast, hissing and spitting as the beautiful red skins split.

Sizzling on the Comal!

The scent was heavenly. My grandma (tiny and wizened:) was running around the kitchen chopping pungent shallots and fresh cilantro. Us kids would run to the back of the kitchen and pluck bird peppers for her to roast and make her fiery pepper sauce with. There were many mornings when we’d be given a bowl and told to go collect the fresh eggs from the hidey holes of the chickens we were raising. Those eggs!! Oh those eggs!! So fresh and yummy – the yolks were almost crayon orange, and thick and creamy – nothing like those eggs!!

But I digress – these were simply the memories I was reliving two nights ago while I was browsing inside Greenhouse (which, have I mentioned before, is my favorite place to shop?, planning a simple meal for myself!! See, the night before I had made a LOT (read: too much) of chicken fingers and the leftovers were to be inhaled by the handsome man I share breathing space with. That meant that I could eat whatever I wanted! Deep joy!! I could have a vegetarian meal no problem! There are simply days when I don’t need meat! I could happily live on veggies and fruits for weeks at a time. And eggs!

So I decided on Mama Grama’s Roasted Tomatoes. I got a couple of tomatoes – no heirlooms, some cilantro, an onion, some eggs. A lime. Imagine my shock when I went to pay and the total bill was ONLY $5.85 bz (about $2.93 us). Usually my bill runs the $35-$50 mark. I could get used to the vegetarian lifestyle. My wallet certainly can!

Mama Grama’s Roasted Tomatoes

About 4-6 ripe juicy tomatoes, a small onion – diced (A couple of shallots would certainly do!), a bunch of fresh cilantro – chopped.

Chopped Onions and Cilantro add texture and fragrance.

Place tomatoes on a comal (or a cast-iron pan) at high heat, and let roast. Yes, the skins will turn black, and sizzle and hiss at you. Let it! Turn the tomatoes till you get most of the outside charred and smokey. Then, place into a nice clean bowl, and with a potato masher or even a fork, squish the tomatoes, charred bits and all. Season with salt and pepper, and a quick squeeze of lime I accidentally squeezed too much lime on mine that night, but now I know! Add the chopped onion/shallots and cilantro, and mix well.

Final product - sweet and tart and smoky!

Plate a nice bowlful for yourself, and peel a couple of hardboiled eggs and drop onto your plate. Accompany with some hot flour tortillas.

Handmade tortillas, hot off the griddle round out the meal!

If you’re like me, you would have taken the chance to roast a couple habanero peppers on the comal with the tomatoes. Place those peppers on a plate with some salt and use to spice up a lovely meal!

Yu no u gat it gud wen mami or wifey mek dat fi u!!

Welcome…to Belly Full A Food

I live in a small town called San Pedro, on the small island of Ambergris Caye. It is a beautiful place, with the warm Caribbean Sea to the East, and the lagoon to the west. In between, well, we have to buy pretty much all the produce we need to cook. One can try to grow some items, but it takes a lot of patience, and time. Much of which we don’t have! So, it’s to fend at the grocery store and see what comes up!! My favorite place is The Greenhouse. It is a bit pricier, but it has every thing. I can often grab the bulk of my items there, and then walk down the street and pick up what’s missing from the street vendors.

Hopefully, my blog will keep you entertained with my shenanigans with the ingredients I come across! I have been cooking a lot lately, and while I am not by any means the most experienced cook, I have a hubby for whom I have to prepare yummy meals for. He’s like my child essentially, and I must sneak in veggies and make him eat healthy. When he’s been especially good, I make treats for him! He loves it when I do that! This blog will feature a bit of every thing. I learned from a Belizean mom, and my kitchen is stocked with lots of Belizean style items. Hope you enjoy!