Roasted Red Peppers

Chris and I used to go to Bulgaria in the fall. In little villages all of the old ladies would be roasting the last of their pepper harvest on outdoor fires so that they could store them for the winter. It is a very good smell. It makes me want to eat sausages, feta cheese, cucumbers and tomatoes and wash it all down with a bottle of Rakia.

I do not have outdoor grilling capacity, so I do it in my broiler. This is a recipe for the fall. Ideally you do this at that magical moment when large bags of peppers start to become available at your local green market for cheap AND the weather has cooled down enough to use your broiler. When this moment happens, I like to buy a bunch of red peppers and roast them so that I have them on hand. Roasting peppers does not take long and its really easy. You are essentially steaming every bit of sweet delicious pepper inside of its own skin. The process makes the peppers an even more amazing shade of red, imparts them with smokey flavour and makes your house smell excellent.

ROASTED RED PEPPERS

Place three to five whole red peppers on roasting or cookie sheet. Place them under a hot broiler and set the timer for five minutes.
After five minutes check the peppers. If they are blackened on one side use a fork or oven mits to carefully turn the pepper so that another side can blacken. If not put them back in a check again in another 3 minutes.
I usually blacken my peppers on three sides. Its okay of their are a few red areas left.
When the peppers are mostly blackened, remove them from the broiler and allow them to cool.
When the peppers are cooled, slip them out their skins.
Remove the stem and seeds. I do this in a very large sieve with a fine mesh over a bowl so that I can catch all of the juice.
Store the peppers in their juice in a sealed container in the fridge. I usually eat all of mine within a week. I add them to omelets and gluten-free pasta with greens and feta or anything that involves goat cheese and tomatoes.