help with roasting red peppers

[Debie K]

I know this will sound like Cooking 101, but how do you roast red/green peppers? I have a couple that are getting a bit past it and rather than throw them out I wanted to try roasting them. Any suggestions?? You'd think I would know how to do this, but I don't. TIA Debie

[clairea]

Debie,

I usually cut the peppers in half and remove the seeds, then put the halves (skin side up) on a baking sheet and flatten with the palm of my hand. Then I put them under the broiler until the skins are blistered and mostly black. When I take them out of the broiler I put them in a plastic zip lock bag for 15-20 minutes, and when you take them out the skins will peel off easily. You can also blacken them over the flame of a gas burner, but I am very clumsy and DH thinks it is too dangerous for me to do it that way!

I usually put foil on the baking sheet so it is easy to clean up.

I always just roast what I need at the time, so I'm not sure how to store them. Hopefully someone else will tell us . . .

Claire

[schuh]

I did them not too long ago on the grill. I don't know if this was technically correct, but we quartered them and put them skin side down on the grill. We grilled them until they were charred. We put them in brown paper lunch bags to "sweat" for a minute, and then peeled them (which was somewhat of a pain -- maybe I didn't leave them in there long enough). I put the leftovers in the fridge and they were good on sandwiches for a couple of days.

[This message has been edited by schuh (edited 06-03-2001).]

[sneezles]

I've always used the same method as Claire. And I think the baggie works better for the "sweating" part than a paper bag plus it take the 15-20 minutes to make them very easy to peel (and I find it very difficult to keep myself from eating them http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif )

[Debie K]

Thanks for the input! I did as you suggested, and right now they are stored in a jar in the fridge with some olive oil. Hopefully they will last through the week for a pasta dish I am planning later. Thanks!!!!!

[Jewel]

This thread reminded me of an embarrassing moment. Well, no one else was around but the dogs, but I'm sure they noticed I was red-faced! The first time I roasted peppers I read an old-fashioned Cookbook's way of doing it. They said rub the peppers with a bit of olive oil, place on a cookie sheet, broil, and turn when blackened to blacken all sides. After I got them out and into a baggie I realized I still had to seed and 'de-membrane' these things... http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/rolleyes.gif

I was standing over the sink with this slimy, falling-apart, slithering mass of earthworm-looking red peppers trying to gently cut/pull/scrape the membranes, stem and seeds out without tearing them to pieces or totally grossing myself out. Admit it, those things don't 'feel' too warm and fuzzy, do they?? It took me about 20-30 minutes to do 4 peppers. After I swore I'd only buy bottled peppers from that moment on, I saw an article and a 'how to' in CL about how you cut and seed the peppers BEFORE you roast the darned things... live and learn! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif

[Curleytop]

I too roast my peppers in the broiler. I just place the cut and seeded pepper, cut side down on a piece of heavy foil, no pan.
When blackened, place in paper bag for a few minutes, then peel. I do this with anaheims when I make tacos, or burritos!