23 April, 2020
Roasted Red Peppers
Mmmmmmm this is another one of my favorite staples to have in the fridge. Peppers, specifically red peppers, can be a bit pricey so I keep an eye out for sales at the grocery stores and/or stock up when they are in season at the Farmer’s Market. I prefer to have these over the store bought variety any day. If you’ve never had homemade Italian Roasted Red Peppers you really don’t know what you’ve been missing. This recipe is really more of a guide on how to make your own Roasted Red Peppers. There’s no precise measurements here.
What you’ll need:
- Red Bell Peppers
- a whole head of garlic
- a little bit of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Wash and dry your peppers. Place them on their sides on a rimmed baking sheet lined with foil. (*Bonus- we are going to roast some garlic too!) Take that whole head of garlic and cut just the top off, drizzle with some olive oil and wrap it in foil and put it on the same baking sheet with the peppers. Roast in the upper third of oven set to broil until the skin is completely charred and the flesh is soft. Make sure you turn the peppers, allowing all sides to get black and blistered. This can take 30 – 45 minutes.
Warning: the scent of roasting peppers is intoxicating!
Once the peppers are charred on all sides carefully remove the baking sheet from the oven, cover with foil (or plastic wrap) and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes. When cool enough to handle, remove charred skins, and carefully peel open peppers to remove the seeds. This can get a little messy but please, promise me you will not run the pepper under water to speed up the process. You’ll just be washing away their flavor. Open up the foil wrapped roasted garlic head and squeeze the soft roasted garlic from its papery skins.
Roughly chop up the roasted garlic cloves and tare the peppers into strips. Layer them into a bowl or other container with a few tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. I’m using a jar. Oh darn… there’s a few strips left that won’t fit in the jar, looks like I’m going to have to make a pepper sandwich!
