Charred Vegetables

Can be chopped or puréed into a sauce, or can be burnt to a crisp to make powder. If you have a grill going, you might as well char some scallions and reserve them. You can also harvest vegetable ash from scraps like carrot peels or onion skins: place the scraps in a sieve or colander over the grill, char them black, and shake the colander over a mixing bowl to collect the resulting bits of ash. Grind the ashy bits with some salt in a spice mill or blender. Use vegetable ash to coat anything you want to make black and smoky without actually charring, like a piece of gently steamed fish, goat cheese, or cucumber.