Asadillo Manchego

Asadillo Manchego belongs to La Mancha, and the cumin tells you where you are. Red peppers are roasted until the skins blacken, tomatoes are cooked down until their water leaves, and both are dressed with garlic, cumin, salt, and good olive oil. It is not escalivada, Catalonia's roasted vegetables, and it is not a tomato salad. This one is Manchego, tal como se hace allí.

The method that decides it is the peeling and the draining. Peel the peppers warm, while the skins still slip away, then let the strips rest so their sweet juice gathers underneath. Cook the tomato until it is thick, not wet. If you leave everything watery, the garlic and cumin float about doing nothing. If you get the vegetables concentrated, the dressing holds to them and the dish tastes deep for such plain work.

No hace falta haber pisado España. If you are far from La Mancha, use heavy red bell peppers and ripe tomatoes when the market gives them to you. Out of season, use good jarred roasted red peppers and canned whole tomatoes, drained and cooked down hard; the dish will lose the edge of fresh char, but the cumin and oil still carry it home. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.