easy roasted peppers at home

For years I kept jarred roasted red peppers in the pantry as a kitchen staple. When I discovered I could roast them at home, it was love at first bite. Roasting peppers is easy- here's what you do: Wash and cut your peppers in large, flat pieces and arrange on a roasting pan skin side up. Heat up your broiler at the highest heat, and place the tray of peppers just a few inches from the heat source. Keep an eye on them. There may be smoke, but hopefully no fire.

When the skin chars, remove the peppers and place them in a glass bowl covered with plastic wrap. This process steams the peppers, making it easier to peel off the skins. Just let them sit until they are at room temperature, or at least cool enough to handle. The more fully they steam, the more easily the skins peel off.

the skin peels off easily after roasting and steaming

Home roasted peppers just taste good. You can control the seasonings, especially the salt, and you know they haven't been sitting around in a jar of salty water and citric acid for God-knows-how-long. The roasting and steaming process develops the sugars, and mellows the sharpness of the raw bell pepper. I like roasting red, orange and yellow peppers, but not really the green bell peppers- I save those for other recipes. 

One of my favorite recipes is Kathleen Daelemans' Roasted Red Pepper Salad with Basil and Mint, which is simply gorgeous when you use yellow, orange and red peppers together. Try it alongside some grilled, marinated flank steak- you'll love it!