When I was 17, my next-door neighbor Alma taught me how to roast red peppers. She turned the burner way up on her big old white enamel gas stove and grabbed a pepper firmly with a pair of long-handled metal tongs. She systematically blistered the skin on a series of five peppers, stashing the finished ones in a brown paper bag to trap the heat and finish cooking the flesh. When the last pepper had gotten a chance to work in the heat of the bag, she tumbled everything out into a colander in the sink and ran water over the peppers to cool them down enough to handle. I was amazed how the blackened skin just slid off, leaving behind a tender, naked pepper.
I don't have a gas stove in my apartment, and even if I did I think I would be hesitant to roast my peppers like Alma did because I've got some seriously sensitive smoke detectors. These days I roast them at high heat on a foil-lined baking sheet (if you roast them on an uncovered sheet you run the risk of caramelizing the sugars permanently to the surface of your baking sheet), turning them a couple of times to get as much surface-area blackening as possible. I still use the techniques she taught me of letting them steam a bit in a paper bag and running cold water over them to get them cool enough to handle.
In the fall and winter I often puree with some roasted carrots and stock into soup. The last batch I made went into some sandwiches and on the top of a salad. They are fairly low effort, and if you get your red peppers on sale, are much less expensive than buying the jars of gourmet roasted peppers.
Cakes so amazing they'd be hard to cut into
Fruit juice: An invitation to diabetes?
Morbid thoughts? Have a cookie
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-10-2007 @ 12:00PM
Scott said...
you can just put them on an electric burner or gas grill. my sister (gourmet chef) has done both and does really well. She also puts them in a ziploc plastic bag instead of a paper bag. works great.
Reply
8-10-2007 @ 12:03PM
Marisa McClellan said...
I have found that in an apartment kitchen with limited ventilation that the oven is the way to go. Also, you run the risk of burning stuff onto your burners with an electric stove, that will then cook off with a lot of smoke when you turn the stove on again. It can be done, but you should be careful and think about how much clean-up you want to do before you do it.
Also, I always worry about using plastic bags with really hot stuff. You never know if some nasty chemical could leach out onto your food.
Reply
8-10-2007 @ 12:20PM
xndr said...
good job. thats one of the most disgusting food pics ive ever seen. looks like a soggy bag of placenta.
also, re: scott
"my sister (GOURMET CHEF)"
lol.
Reply
8-10-2007 @ 12:53PM
Hillary said...
Roasted red peppers are the bomb diggity (haven't said that in awhile but I felt it appropriate here.) Thanks for sharing your tips.
Reply
8-10-2007 @ 12:53PM
William said...
Have you ever roasted peppers? They look like bits of soggy placenta.
Hmmm...roasted red bell placenta...
Reply
8-10-2007 @ 1:11PM
Jonathan said...
I don't put the peppers in any sort of bag. It cooks them too much. They go straight from the flame to an ice bath and the skin still comes off easily.
Reply
8-10-2007 @ 1:15PM
Rob Lusk said...
Don't wash the peppers with water after roasting! If you're going to do this, you might as well just bake them at 500 and don't bother with the fuss of blackening and turning them. The skins will come off just as easily. The reason you blacken is to get that wonderful roasted pepper flavor. To clean, hold the peppers over the sink and pull off the blackened skins with your fingers. Have the water running so you can rinse off your fingers as you go. Trust me on this, the end product is much better.
Reply
8-10-2007 @ 1:37PM
Alex said...
I worked at a restarant where we roasted peppers on the wood burning grill (you could certainly do it on gas or charcoal), then threw them in a big bowl and covered it with plastic wrap. It's a good solution if you don't have a gas stove but want the char from an open flame. If you char them quickly enough they do not get overcooked when you steam them in a bowl or bag.
We did the same thing with pears - put them on the grill whole (turn a few times like peppers), let them steam in a covered bowl, and then rubbed the skins off. We then sliced them up and put them on a salad of mixed greens, walnuts and blue cheese. Delicious!
Reply
8-10-2007 @ 4:27PM
yumdcblog said...
There's a great how-to post about this on VeganYumYum
http://veganyumyum.com/2007/03/how-to-roast-a-pepper/
Reply
8-10-2007 @ 9:49PM
Wes said...
Personally, I use a propane torch. Not a "kitchen torch" either, but the kind that you use for plumbing. And a flame spreader. It blackens the skin very quickly, but leaves the flesh uncooked. I typically use a paper towel to rub the blackened skin off. Great for roasting one red pepper.
Reply
8-16-2007 @ 4:52AM
ooda said...
I've been doing this for ages, but yeah, probably the worst thing that can be done is washing the peppers after blistering them. When you do it with your hands, you can just feel the oil and the juice coming off them, and that's one of the main things you're looking for when you roast them.
And yeah, a bowl with cling wrap is what I use, as it's the sweating that you're after.
Reply