How to Roast Peppers

It’s always been a little bit of a secret to me how easy people make it seem to roast and peel peppers. Over the years, I’ve tried a lot of different methods, made a lot of mistakes, and finally come up with the way i think it can be most easily done.

At the farm, in the harvest season, we have an endless supply of peppers, so we needed to figure out a quick, easy and effective method of preserving them. Roasted, peeling, and freezing is a perfect way to have peppers year round.

Some people like to grill peppers, even on a gas stove top, but to me the easiest thing is to broil them.

• Turn the broiler on and let it heat up.

• Arrange the peppers on a cookie sheet. If you want, you can line the cookie sheet with foil to make it easier to clean. The peppers shouldn’t touch, but can be packed in there pretty well.

• Broil for about 5 minutes, and then turn the peppers with tongs. You want the skin of the peppers to start blistering - turning brown, but not black. If you over broil them, you’ll never be able to peel the skins. This is the part that takes a couple times to get right.

• When the skin is blistered with brown (about 10-15 minutes, turning often) remove the peppers from the broiler and put them into a large stainless steel bowl.
  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and allow the peppers to cool for 30 minutes.

• Once cool enough to handle, pull the stem with the seeds out of the top of the pepper.

• Peel the skin away the best you can. It’s ok if there are still places where the skin did not come off, it doesn’t have to be perfect!

If you are using the peppers right away, chop and use as needed. The juice left in the bowl at the end of the process is a great addition to soups or sauces.

If you want to preserve the peppers, place them in freezer ziplock bags, remove all air, and freeze in whatever size will best suit your uses. At home I do about 1/2 cup of peppers per bag. At the restaurants we freeze them in 5 gallon buckets. . . you get the idea!