I use roasted peppers in many of my recipes. This is an easy process that yields wonderful results with both sweet and hot peppers. So, alas, here is a tutorial on roasting your own peppers:
1. Preheat your oven’s broiler! Place a rack close but not too close to the top flame (exercise culinary judgment)
2. Wash the peppers, and with larger bell peppers, split in half length wise, core and de-seed.
3. Some folks like to line their baking sheets with tin foil, as the burned edges of the peppers are hard to get off the surface of the baking sheet. I don’t like to use tine foil excessively, so my baking sheets are all harmlessly stained. I spill a little bit of oil on the baking sheet and go from there.
4. Place the peppers on the baking sheet with the inside facing down (see photo) and brush them with oil making sure to get inside all the nooks and crannies. Apparently you should avoid extra-virgin olive oil as its smoke point is low and will burn when broiled–but this is usually what I have around and therefore what I brush my peppers with.
5. Place the baking sheet of peppers in the oven. Keep a watchful eye. The pepper’s sin will being to scorch which is good. Keep watching and waiting, allowing the peppers to roast for 30-40 minutes. If you are roasting them whole (which is fine, too) turn them every 15 minutes so all sides get exposed to the heat/flame.
6. When you deem the peppers roasted remove them from the oven. Let them cool for 20 minutes or so, until they are cool enough to handle easily. The skin should generally slip right off, but the peppers themselves become quite slippery, so take care in this process. When you are done, discard the skins and you will enjoy your nice surprisingly small pile of home-roasted peppers. Good work.
