Roasted salad

It's one of those unusual Seattle fall days, the sun has come out through the clouds, the leaves are brilliant orange and yellow and green. Feels like a day for roasting.

I picked up an eggplant and some peppers at the farmers market this weekend and they've been sitting in the fridge accusingly. So I popped the peppers in the oven on broil and threw the eggplant in my big cast iron pan on high. Let them cook till they were all black on all sides and then threw them in a brown bag to cool down.

This is one of my favorite ways to cook. You can't burn them too much. I guess they could be too soft, but even that would be hard. You want them to be pretty soft.

Then you just flake off the skins and dice them, throw on some good olive oil (I am a frantoia woman), a splash of balsamic, sea salt and fresh ground pepper.

And there you have this luscious salad, buttery and slightly smoky. I think eggplant may be one of the only vegetables that can taste luscious.

Roasted Salad: A