It’s Tuesday and all, so I guess we should ease into the week already. I got lotsa stuff this week, like roasted red peppers, appetizers, a world-renowned pot roast, wine, trashy cookies that were kind-of from a box, and some homemade hootch concoction that I don’t remember how to pronounce. We will get through all of this without complaining about sports.*
So, let’s get started with Roasted Red Peppers. I know, everyone and their mother has a way of doing it. After a few attempts, I can tell you that mine is best for you if you live in a small apartment, have an electric stove, and value your cookie sheets.** Even if you don’t meet these (admittedly narrowly defined) criteria, it’s still a good way to get peppers roasted.
What is the magical secret, you ask? A grill, of course. One that is not in your house. Now, let’s roast some peppers.
What you’ll need:
- Large bowl that you can put hot things in (i.e. not plastic, I use a glass mixing bowl)
- Cover for said bowl (I use a large dinner plate, but plastic wrap works ok, too.)
- Mesh strainer or colander lined with cheesecloth or something. This needs to fit into or over the bowl.
- Cutting Board and knife
- Red or Yellow Bell Peppers (as many as your little heart desires, but they’ll have to fit in the aforementioned bowl)
- Olive Oil
- Garlic Cloves (optional)
- A Grill (duh)
- Tongs of some kind
Start by washing the peppers, with vegetable wash if you have it. If not, just rinse them really well and make sure there’s no stickers or residue on them. Set aside and heat up your grill to about medium-high. The object here is to char the outside of the pepper without burning the meat inside. When the grill is hot, place the peppers directly on the grate and close the lid. But don’t go too far! Your work here is not done.
shiny peppers
Every few minutes, check the peppers. You want them to roast evenly on all sides, so you’ll have to turn them every so often. They will start to soften and will probably start to hiss at you. This, incidentally, is the reason I hate roasting them in the oven. All the juices make a holy mess and produce an inordinate amount of smoke.
almost done!
When they are evenly charred, remove them to the bowl and quickly cover. Let cool to room temperature. The condensation in the bowl will sweat the skins off the pepper, thereby making your life easier for the next steps, albeit no less messy.
When the peppers cool, set up your bowl and strainer. On the cutting board, carefully slice a pepper open, preserving as much of the seed pod on the stem as possible. Place the stem in the strainer. At this point, I like to finish quartering the pepper. You can slice it into strips later, but it’s easier to get the skin off when it’s in slightly larger pieces.
as you can see, my efforts at a completely seedless pepper are somewhat lacking
Now for the fun part. Positioned over the strainer, take each pepper section, and begin to peel off the skin. It should come off pretty easily, but you may have a couple stubborn parts. You’ll be able to feel the skin even if it’s hard to see. Just use your own best judgement and pepper-juicy hands to guide you.
pepper peel
As you remove the skin, place the discards in the colander. The whole purpose here is to not waste any of the delicious pepperiness. If there were some seeds stuck to the pepper, gently scrape them into the strainer with your fingers or a knife. You don’t want to rinse the pepper strip (sacrilege!) because it will diminish the flavor. When it’s all clean and pretty, place the pepper in the bowl and repeat for all the rest of the pepper pieces.
When you’re finished with your chop job, and the colander is drained of all the pepper juice, then you can either slice up the peppers right then, or store them and worry about it later because Law & Order is coming on (just me? oh…). To store them, put them in a glass container (bowl, jar, whatever) that has a lid (or if you’ll be using them soon, they can be covered with plastic wrap). Slice up the garlic, if you’re using it, and mix in with the peppers. Pour over a tablespoon or two of olive oil (you don’t have to drown them, but they should be coated in it, to keep them moist) and cover ‘em up.
peppers and garlic! magic...
Refrigerate for up to two weeks or so, but I doubt they’ll last that long!
*…too much.
** I’ve ruined at least one pan, even with parchment paper, and the smoke took a couple hours to clear out. I may has well have sat on my couch with some Pappy Van Winkle and a nice cigar and pretended I was in a bar in Casablanca…or some other place where they let you smoke cigars indoors. Whatever. You get the picture.
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