Picked a peck of roasted peppers

Sunday, September 09, 2007

The other day I mentioned to a friend that I planned to roast peppers this weekend (my kitchen is overrun with bell and hot peppers).  She was confused.  “Why would you bother?” she asked. “That’s so much work for something you can just buy in a jar at the store.”

This weird idea that cooking or canning takes so much effort and time is pervasive in people who don’t do either.  And yes, you can certainly make a bigger production out of cooking or canning than is necessary - but it can also be a simple, quick thing, too.  And roasting peppers is one of those simple, quick things.

Realizing that not everyone in the city has the space for a grill, I’ll discuss oven roasting, gas range-top roasting, and grilling for the purposes of making roasted peppers. 

Grilling.  Turn your grill up to high and coat the peppers with olive oil.  Sure you can be genteel and use a brush, but I generally just pour a little oil on my hands and rub the peppers.  It’s quicker and you get the benefit of a little olive oil bath for your hands.  Toss the peppers on the grill and wait for the peppers to get charred.  Turn the peppers so all sides get charred.

Gas range.  Turn on a burner or two on your stove top.  Make sure the flames just reach the trivet.  As with grilling, coat the peppers with oil.  Place them directly on the trivet over the open flame on the burner.  Wait for them to char and keep turning the pepper until all sides are charred.

Oven roasting.  Preheat your oven’s broiler.  Coat the peppers with oil and arrange them on a cookie sheet.  This will generally take a little longer than roasting over an open flame, but keep an eye out for the peppers to start getting charred.  Turn the peppers so all sides are charred.

In all cases, this is your next step: grab a ziploc bag and seal the hot peppers inside.  Wait at least 10 or 15 minutes and then peel the peppers - the charred skin should come off pretty easily.  Discard seeds and membrane and pepper stems.

They can be stored in a few different ways.  If you plan to eat them immediately, you can store them in oil in the fridge.  They’ll last for maybe a week or two.  For longer term storage, freeze them.  It’s easiest to freeze them in a single layer on wax paper.  Or peppers can be canned - pack jars with peppers, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace and pour in hot water and a smidgen of canning salt.  Process in a water bath for 30 minutes.