You probably read that title and thought, “I wonder what this blog entry is really about.  It can’t possibly be about roasted pepper sandwiches because a) isn’t this supposed to be a music blog?, and b) why the hell would anybody care enough about roasted pepper sandwiches to post a blog entry about them?”  Remember yesterday, when I said that things were pretty slow around here, and all I was doing was playing in the kitchen? Well, here you go: photographic evidence of this. And with all of the pictures I’ve been posting of the kitchen, and food cooked in restaurants, I figured I’d take some pictures of food cooked in our own kitchen. Below, I document — with the always lovely Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 L lens — proof that we do, honestly, cook in the new kitchen.

Last night’s dinner was, as you guessed (because you’re smart), roasted pepper sandwiches with (and you may not have guessed this part) a side of garlic and herb tomatoes. It all starts with — yes, you guessed it again — roasted peppers. We got a mix of red and yellow peppers. Roasting them couldn’t be easier. You throw them (well, maybe place them) on a cookie sheet and bake them in a 500 degree oven for 30-40 minutes. When they come out, they look like this:

Next, you chop up a bunch of herbs. We’d bought the herbs the day before (thank you, Central Market, for having real fresh herbs that aren’t even packaged — they just sit, cut, in little cups of water), and leaving the herbs overnight in our fridge resulted in this yummy smell of fresh basil and thyme that washed over us every time we opened the refrigerator door.

Cooking the tomatoes is pretty damn easy. Put a bunch of cherry tomatoes in a pot with olive oil, garlic, thyme, and basil. Then… cook. Even I can do this.

Meanwhile, the roasted peppers have been skinned and marinating in balsamic vinegar, olive oil, capers, and more tasty herbs.

And hey! The tomatoes are ready!

Then you need a good loaf of bread. Oh, and try to avoid eating the ginger spice cookies in the background. Save those for later.

Spread a bunch of — almost too much — herb goat cheese on the bread.

Put a whole bunch of the roasted peppers on top.

Garnish with whole fresh basil leaves and some slices of red onion, salt, and pepper.

And you’re done! Roasted pepper and goat cheese sandwiches with garlic and herb tomatoes. You’re awesome! You cooked your own dinner! And then you kept your wife waiting while you took pictures of every step!

Full disclosure… We didn’t come up with these recipes, although they couldn’t be much simpler. Both are by Ina Garten from her cookbook, Barefoot Contessa at Home. We just discovered her cookbooks a few weeks ago, and they’re awesome. The recipes are super simple to make, the results are delicious, and, best of all, every recipe has a nice color picture. Eat up.