How To Roast A Pepper
A roasted pepper is a beautiful thing; soft and juicy with a hint of smoky goodness. So how do you do that yourself? Read on to find out!
Here are some basics before we get started into the methods. First, when you’re picking out your peppers, make sure that the flesh is still firm. Soft spots are an indicator that the pepper is bad inside. Second, make sure you thoroughly clean the pepper, especially the top, as peppers often have field dirt still on them. Lastly, if you are working with spicy peppers, wear gloves and don’t wipe your eyes!
Now, on with the roasting…
One of the best and most expeditious ways for the home cook to roast a pepper is over an open flame. If you have a gas-burning stove, you can light one of your burners and roast the pepper there. Be careful, though, because this generally only works with the smaller peppers. Pierce the pepper with a long fork and turn the heat on the burner up to high. Hold the pepper just a couple inches over the gas flame until the skin blackens. Once the skin, blackens, start rotating the pepper until you get the whole skin of the pepper blackened. Let the pepper sit until it cools down, otherwise, it will be way too hot to handle. If you need to peel the pepper, gently grip the pepper and slowly tear away the skin from the flesh of the pepper. Sometimes, a bit of the skin will grip the flesh. The best thing to do in that situation is to simply leave that part on there or cut out that part of the flesh and skin. Note that this is much more difficult to do with a large pepper than it is with a small one because as the large pepper roasts, it will get soft and the extra weight of the pepper makes it tend to droop down over the fork, which can cause a big mess. This method takes about four to six minutes.
