This year my sweet red pepper plants did wonderfully. The other day, when baseball sized hail was falling about 30 miles west of us, I raced outside and picked most of my ripe peppers, in the rain. Luckily, we didn't get any hail. But I suddenly had a sink full of peppers to take care of!
Some got washed, seeded, and left whole to make stuffed peppers. Any with bad spots, etc, got sliced and frozen to use this winter. And then I had these beauties left. So I decided to make roasted red peppers. And it was so easy that I thought I'd share!
First place the over rack on the highest position, closest to the broiler. Turn the oven on broil.
Then, wash, seed, and halve the peppers. Slit or break them so that they will lie as flat as possible. Arrange on a baking sheet. (I line mine with foil to make cleanup easier, and save my baking sheet!)
Broil as close to the heat as possible. Keep a close eye on them, because they get done quickly! You want the skins to blister and start to blacken, but not burn entirely. The pepper flesh under the skin should still have a slightly firm texture, not mushy. Mine looked like this at about 5 minutes. They really needed to be a bit more blackened, so I cooked them a minute or so more.
Immediately transfer the hot peppers to a ziploc bag, seal, and let them steam and cool for about half an hour. This loosens the skins so they can be peeled off easily. Mine ended up steaming for closer to an hour due to kid interruptions, and they turned out great. You want them cool enough to handle easily anyway.
Next comes the slightly tedious part. Remove the peppers from the bag and peel off the skins. If you cooked them long enough, they should peel off easily. Some of mine were a bit sticky, but I just set those aside and ate them for lunch, skin and all. They were delicious, by the way, wrapped in a whole wheat tortilla with a slice of turkey and cheese.
Slice, chop, or otherwise cut up your peeled peppers. I sliced mine in thin strips, like the commercial ones. You could also leave them whole.
Finally, choose how you will preserve them. If you plan to use the peppers within a month, you can pack them in jars in olive oil and refrigerate them. I did this for part of mine. This is a half pint jar, measuring 1 cup. (I'm thinking these would make great hostess gifts, and the oil would be delicious for bread dipping after the peppers are used!)
Or, you can freeze them (separate layers in your freezer container or bag with wax paper so that you can take out and defrost just what you need later.) This way they will last 6 months or longer.
