grilling vegetables outside & vsco cam

Now that Montreal has wonderful summer weather, The husband and I have unpacked our little bucket grill (bought for our wedding rehearsal bbq), purchased charcoal, and grilled up some vegetables.  For the husband's birthday I bought him vegetarian "health-conscious" cookbooks as he complains as to how many baking books I tend to overload on.  Out of the 3 I bought, this one: Fresh, Fast and Green is my favorite.  Pretty pictures and amazing vegetable recipes.  The book is perfect if you don't really know what you want to do with those pesky vegetables you buy.  We tried a recipe today and it was amazing!

On an "amazing" related side note: I recently purchased the VSCOcam app.  It's an amazing camera app that edits images (beautifully) and sends them through instagram and other social media.  It's only $0.99 and totally worth it.  I decided to take some photos of our dinner process, (using my canon 5d) then sent them through the app for a quick edit.  Despite the bad lighting in our apartment, I am happy with the results!

Grill-Roasted Bell Peppers with Goat Cheese and Cherry Tomato Dressing

 Fresh, Fast and Green

• 3 bell peppers
• 3 oz. / 85 grams fresh goat cheese
• 6 small springs fresh basil

Preheat gas grill to high. Put the whole bell peppers directly on the grate, lower the lid, and cook, turning with tongs every couple of minutes, until the peppers are well blistered and blackened in places, about 10 minutes.  Transfer the peppers to a bowl and cover with foil. Let sit for 8-10 minutes. Over a sink or a bowl, peel the skin away from the peppers, it should come right off.  Leaving the stems in, cut the peppers in half. Gently remove the seeds, but keep any accumulated liquid inside if you an (it has lots of flavor).

Cut the peppers in halves, or quarters depending on how intact they are.  Spoon about 1/2 oz. or so of goat cheese into each pepper half.  Spread out the cheese, add tomato dress and top with fresh basil.  

• 8 oz. / 225 grams small cherry or other tiny tomatoes, halved or quartered depending on size
• 3 tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tbs. thinly sliced drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
• 1 tbs. thinly sliced fresh basil leaves
• 2 tsp. drained capers, coarsely chopped (I would say this is optional if you don't want to buy capers)
• 2 tsp. sherry vinegar
• 2 tsp. fresh orange juice
• 1/2 tsp. minced fresh garlic
• 1/4 tsp. kosher salt

Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and stir gently to combine. Let sit for 10 to 15 minutes to let the flavors mingle and to let the tomatoes marinate a bit. Stir gently again before serving.

Serves 6