“Food on the Hill” by Sue York
This week’s recipe:
Smoked Vegetables and Pasta
Photo by Sue York/ladailypost.comThis is a very powerful dish with a lot of smoky taste, but it is still low calorie dish. It can be eaten warm or at room temperature. I use a charcoal grill and smoking chips that have been soaked in water for about ½ hour.
Veggies for smoking
Pasta noodles for 4 servings
1 ½ tablespoons butter
1 ½ tablespoons flour
1 ½ cups low salt chicken broth
Pepper
Photo by Sue York/ladailypost.comCut all of your vegetables for the size you want to put on the grill ahead of time. I used mushrooms, onions, zucchini, cauliflower, broccoli and green, red and orange peppers.
Photo by Sue York/ladailypost.comAfter the charcoal is ready, place some of the smoking chips on the coals. Place the veggies on the grill and smoke to your liking. I like mine very smoked so I left them on the grill until they were the right flavor for me (I tasted them as I smoked them.)
Photo by Sue York/ladailypost.comAfter I put the smaller vegetables on a holding platter, I took off the grate and placed the peppers right on the coals to roast and smoke them.
Photo by Sue York/ladailypost.comWhen the peppers were done, I placed them in a plastic bag and sweated the skin off. I cut all the veggies to bite sizes and put them to the side in a plastic holding bowl. If you want to heat them before you put them on the final plate, you can reheat them in the microwave.
Cook your pasta the way you normally do. I used spaghetti noodles, but you can use any kind of pasta you would like. Drain and hold in colander until ready to mix into sauce.
Photo by Sue York/ladailypost.comIn a small sauce pan, place 1 ½ tablespoons of butter and melt it. Add in 1 ½ tablespoons of flour, cook until golden, mixing continually. This is called making a roux; it is a thickener for many sauces.
Photo by Sue York/ladailypost.comAdd 1 ½ cup of low salt chicken broth gradually to the roux. It will make a thin gravy. This is enough gravy for 4 helpings of pasta. Mix the gravy with the noodles and plate it with the veggies on the top and some cracked pepper on it. Remember the more veggies you use and less pasta per serving the lower calorie the dish will be.
** You will see the smoked eggs in the pictures, but I will be putting that recipe in the Los Alamos Daily Post at a later date. I like to smoke as many things as possible when I am using smoking chips on my grill.
Smoked Vegetables and Pasta:
Photo by Sue York/ladailypost.com