How to Roast Bell Peppers

This is a prequel to my next recipe post, which is a delicious pasta dish that uses roasted red peppers and tomatoes as the base for the sauce.

Before I realized how easy it was to make them at home, I would buy bottled roasted red peppers at the store.

Now I make my own at home all the time.

Not only is it easy and cheap, but it eliminates the additives and preservatives that you find in the stuff in the jar.

Here is the step by step:

1. Wash peppers and place them on a baking sheet and into the oven.

2. Turn on the broiler (mine has a high/low setting, and I use the high setting), and crack the oven door.

3. Keep a close eye on these babies - the temp is very hot! When the side that is facing up begins to blacken, turn peppers over to blacken the next side. They will start to look like this:

4. Continue turning peppers until all sides are blackened.

5. Remove from heat and immediately place in a bowl covered tightly with plastic wrap. I used a zip top bag this time, and I wouldn't recommend it...those peppers are HOT and can easily melt a hole through the plastic.

6. Once peppers are cool, removed them from bowl and peel the skin (it should come off easily).

7. Remove the top of the pepper, and the seeds.

8. Slice/dice and use as desired. If you want to roast peppers in bulk, you can freeze them between sheets of wax paper (these should last for several months), or cover them in olive oil and refrigerate them (should keep for a couple of weeks).

Use the peppers in sauces (recipe coming soon), salads, on sandwiches, or puree and use in dressings or hummus. Yum!

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