Red Pepper Roastin'

We have always been a fan of roasted peppers, and since Andria is from an Italian family have always had an abundance of homemade freshly roasted peppers both in various dishes and on their own in simple vinegarettes. Today was our first attempt at making our own peppers however.

Ok, so what is involved.

Decisions, Decisions

First you need to choose your peppers. The type of peppers you buy depends on your own personal taste, but our Zia Annette assures us that Red Shepard peppers are the best (and we trust her cause she makes damn good peppers) so thats the type we bought. Just make sure that the peppers are fresh and ripe. A good way to test this is by breaking off the green stem - if it snaps off crisply then your pepper is ripe! (Thanks to Andria's mom for the tip)

Red Shepard Peppers

As for quantity, you again can make as many as you like. We wanted to stock up a bit for winter so we purchased one box of peppers. We froze them that way we can peppers whenever we want! If you only want to make enough for one meal however, then 4 or 5 peppers will do you nicely.

Finally you need to choose how to roast them. Your basic options are the oven or the BBQ, but you could also use an indoor grill, as long as it can get hot enough.  Andria's mom usually does them in the oven and they come out really tasty, but today we decided to use our snazzy BBQ.

Step 1: Pre-heat your BBQ, you want it really really hot for this. Put the temp as high up as she will go. Don't worry about the peppers burning, that is basically what we want to happen. If you have a top rack for the BBQ take it out if possible.

Step 2: While the BBQ is heating up, wash your peppers. Since we had quite a few peppers we rinsed them down in bunches with our backyard hose in a giant colander.

Step 3: Once your BBQ is blistering hot place the peppers neatly in rows on the BBQ and shut the lid. Then chill out, have a beer (or a Strongbow) and relax for 7-10 mins. Once enough time has passed check out your peppers, flip one or two over quickly as see if they are black and blistered. You want the pepper skin to be as black and blistery as possible! If they are not yet black and blistery leave them for another 5 mins or so before checking again. Try and refrain from the temptation of lifting the BBQ lid every minute or so, because it will just make the heat escape and make things take longer.

Charred Peppers - nice and blistered!

Step 4: Once the peppers are black and blistery, turn them over and repeat. If necessary, turn peppers over a third time to char any remaining skin.

Step 5: When peppers are ready to be removed, place them in a bowl and cover it with something. We happen to have giant plastic bowls with lids, but you can use aluminum foil or a dish if your bowls don't come with lids. Let the peppers sit in the bowl for a good 15 or so. This is a really important step because the peppers will steam a bit in the sealed bowl and help make them really easy to peel.

Step 6: Grab a cutting board and put a towel or a few layers of paper towel underneath it. Open up the sealed bowl and grab a pepper and put it on the cutting board. Be careful they can be pretty hot! Test the pepper to see if it will peel easily, if it doesn't, try closing up the bowl and leaving the peppers for another 5 mins. If it peels pretty easily, then they are good to go.

Peppers after steaming in bowl

Step 7: Take your first pepper and peel off the skin. Once the pepper is peeled slice it open and remove the stem and the seeds from the inside. Some peppers might already be broken and you may have to seed them before peeling. It really doesn't matter what order you do it in...as long as by the end your pepper is peeled and seeded. If the peel is giving you problems, very lightly scrape it with a sharp knife and it will come off. Just don't scrape too hard or you will mangle your pepper.

Peeling and seeding

Step 8:  You can cut your pepper into halves, quarters or strips - its your choice. If you are making peppers to freeze then make sure you have zome re-sealable plastic bags handy. Put the peppers into the re-sealable bags - fill each bag about 2/3 of the way up. You can use giant freezer bags if you wish - what we did, since we wanted smaller portions, was fill smaller sandwich bags and then put the sandwich bags into a larger freezer bag. The freezer bag will protect the peppers from getting freezer burn but this way we have smaller portions for 2 people. Make sure your bag is free of excess air - Andria's mom uses a neat trick with a straw where she sucks out the remaining air from the bag. Then all that is left is to put your peppers in the freezer! Whenever you want to eat them just take them out the day before and let them defrost. Then you can marinate them or use them however you wish.

Bagged Peppers!

Quick Pepper Marinade

A really simple but tasty marinade for your peppers is as follows. Adjust each ingredient according to your own taste.

Olive oil
Garlic
Parsley
Oregano
Salt

Some people also like to add a bit of vinegar to give some kick!


Stay hungry :D