Perfect summer vegetable broil

My friends, I just can't do justice to the simplicity and complete and utter deliciousness of this dish--you all are just going to have to try it for yourselves. It is so easy. And it is so tasty. All you need are the vegetables that are so abundant right now (corn, tomatoes, okra, maybe some peppers...)and a little fresh basil, which is also pretty much walking up and letting itself into your kitchen right now 'cause there's so much of it in the markets. You will thank me and those you feed will love you eternally. Although they really should love you eternally anyway, on account of the fact that you just cooked them dinner. Think my hyperbole is out of control? Try and see.

I used 2 ears of beautiful late summer corn, a odds-n-ends assortment of tomatoes, about 12 okra pods and 1 medium-sized mild green chile. My tomatoes were lovely--a big Brandywine heirloom tomato that I cut into chunks, a couple yellow and red plum tomatoes that I sliced in half and a handful of little cherry tomatoes. I just left those ones whole. Then I sliced the okra down into diagonal pieces, a little less than an inch in length. By the way, have you ever noticed that okra is naturally sticky? After Nik and I were done playing with the okra, I sliced the kernels off the corn cob. It's easy to do if you cut the corn in half first, then stand it on a cut end and just scrape off the kernels with a sharp knife. I also added in the green chile, simply de-seeded and sliced. Everything got tossed together with 2 tablespoons olive oil and salt & lots of freshly ground black pepper. Then you just put it onto a baking sheet and pop it under the broiler for 7 minutes--take a peek after 5 minutes to make sure it's not getting burnt. Pull it out and transfer the veggies to a serving platter and toss everything together with a handful of fresh basil leaves. It is so wonderful--the snappy texture of the okra and sweet corn together with the hot tomatoes...trust me, it's summer vegetable heaven.Pretty much right after dinner, Ryan and Betsy got in a truck and drove away to go live in Wisconsin. It's sad (although for really good and awesome reasons, I'm just being selfish here) and they will be missed.