With grill season in high gear, pretty much everything is ending up on the grill. It is fun to be out doors, doesn't heat up the house, and adds a delicious kiss of smoke flavor to everything you cook. A flavor you just can't achieve any other way.

If you have been around here for very long, you know that vegetables, especially tomatoes, were on my, "Not going anywhere near my face" list for most of my life.

After my weight loss, and quest to cook healthier food, I learned to love just about every veggie under the sun, except tomatoes. It goes way back to a bad experience with my Mom and being forced to eat a cherry tomato. Let's just say that the tomato didn't stay down, and my Mom was not too happy that she had to clean the floor up. 

Don't get me wrong, I have eaten tomato in just about every form, just not raw, or if it remotely looked like a tomato.

Fast forward to last year, and a wonderful trip to Sacramento with Muir Glen Organics. It was so much fun to follow the process from the vine, to packaging, to the table, and *drumroll* I ate fresh RAW tomatoes!! 

This year I have 4 tomato plants growing, and love nothing more than to grab fresh tomatoes off the vine, and nibble away. But I remembered how wonderful the Muir Glen processing plant smelled when they were roasting the tomatoes for their fire roasted tomatoes.

I have roasted tomatoes in the oven before for things like Roasted Tomato and Garlic Pizza Sauce, Roasted Tomato and Pepper Soup, and Roasted Tomato Salsa Roja, just to name a few. But, I have never done them on the grill. I have no idea why. I just had a little light bulb moment  and plopped those bad boys on the grill next to the pork we were grilling up for supper.

Now, the way I did them is more of a roast VS grilling technique. For larger tomatoes, you could just place them over the fire, and let the skins char a bit. That realllllllllllllllllly gives the tomato a super smoky flavor, and is a fabulous way to do them.

This was is over indirect heat. I wanted that grilly kind of smoky flavor, but wanted to give the tomatoes time to concentrate down and really develop that sweet sweet tomato flavor that only slow roasting can accomplish.

The result?

Tomatoes that are so damn good I burned my fingers and tongue because I didn't have the patience to wait for them to cool before I shoved them in my face!

They were perfect lightly smashed and scooped over the pork, and totally amazeballs in this Grilled Tomato Vinaigrette! 

What ever you want to put them on is fine, just get them on that grill people!

Oh, and learn from my mistake, let them cool a bit before you cram them in your mouth. 

Either that, or make sure to have some popsicles close by!!

Roasting Tomatoes on the Grill

Ingredients

• Grape or cherry tomatoes
• Olive oil

Equipment Used

Instructions

1. Place hot coals on one side of your grill (for a gas grill heat one side to medium heat).
2. Place tomatoes on a vegetable grill pan, or line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Lightly drizzle the tomatoes with olive oil.
3. Place the tomatoes on the cool side of the grill, close the lid, and cook for 30 minutes, or until the tomatoes begin to burst.