Twice Grilled Peppers

These look great and tastes better! From Bobby Flay's Grilling for Life, page 54, this is Twice-Grilled Peppers with Buffalo Mozzarella and Caper-Basil Vinaigrette. We were going out, so we used this great recipe as a pre-concert appetizer. The key was the twice-grilled technique. I got one yellow, one orange and two red bell peppers. I removed one grill grate and lit the fire. With one of the two grill grates gone, the direct flame was exposed. I placed the peppers right down in the flame. On a previous blog, I showed the step-by-step method for roasting perfect bell peppers (complete with photos) - but here it is again: The peppers go right into the flame. Turn them several times so that all sides of the pepper become black with char. Bring them off the flame and immediately into a plastic sealable bag. Let them sit in the bag and cool - condensation will form on the inside of the bag. In about 15 minutes the peppers will have cooled enough to handle them. Take them out and slide your thumbs across the charred surface - the char and the outside skin will just slide off leaving the original color underneath. In this case, I sliced the peppers into strips and took out the seeds. This is a roasted pepper and they taste great just like this - but the twice-grilled recipe called for the peppers to crisp up a bit, so back to the grill they went. This time I used the grill grate on the other side, laying out the pepper strips until they went from tender to slightly crispy. This was best of both worlds - roasted and grilled. Meanwhile I made the vinaigrette. It was red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, garlic, Kosher salt, ground pepper, olive oil, a few capers and basil leaves. I added fresh (not from a shrink wrap package) Buffalo Mozzarella to the peppers and spooned on the vinaigrette - perfect!


The Concert? Train at the Ryman. The group Train is from San Francisco and their music is the kind that you instantly recognize when you hear it, even if you didn't know it was from Train. Their music is on television (CSI New York) and in commercials. It was a great show. Go to their website and listen - you will recognize most of what you hear - even if you don't know the song's name or even who Train is. 
http://www.trainline.com/us/home


The concert was at the historic Ryman Auditorium. If you are not familiar, the Ryman was the long-time home of the Grand Ole Opery. The Opery still performs there in the winter months. The Ryman was built in 1892. Now here is the thing. When you go to the Ryman you need to get caught up in the history of the place. You need to keep in mind that every country music legend and a surprising number of non-country legends have played there for over a 100 years. You must keep all this in mind to take your mind off the fact that its really not a very good venue. The stage is on the side of the room, not at one end, so unless you are sitting right in front of the stage, you will never see the drummer in the back. Once we say the Los Lonely Boys at the Ryman - another great concert. Mid-way through the lead signer said, "It is our great privilege to welcome a special unexpected guest to the stage - Ronnie Milsap!" We never saw him. He never came forward on the stage and we were sitting on the side. I don't know for sure if he was really there. You should try to get seats in the balcony, because the main floor is mostly flat and the overhanging balcony makes it seem that you are watching the stage through a slit. There are no individual chairs - its all church pews. Part of the reason its called the "mother church." I guess people in the 1800s were shorter than we are today, because the pews are too close together for any comfort. I am just under six feet tall. After a Ryman concert I have a red mark across my knees from the pew just in front. All that being said, you still should make a show at the Ryman once in your life. The room is small, compared to arena shows, so you really do get to see the artists up close (at least when they come to the front of the stage!). I have never passed on a show that I really wanted to see because it was at the Ryman - so I guess the limited view and limited space is a small price to pay. Check it out at http://www.ryman.com/


Plenty of space for more grilling! Paul