Conference turris::cooks

Mancini puts out a red roasted pepper that is not packaged in vinegar.  But 
they still don't hold a candle to peppers done at home.

						     
							- JP

    A roasted Pepper is very easy to do at home.
    
    Purchase the Green Chilli peppers (Chilli Verde).  They are the long
    mild green peppers available in the ethnic food section of most
    good supermarkets.
    
    Place peppers (I usually do about 2 at a time) directly in the flame
    of a gas stove (If you do not have gas do this on a cast iron griddle
    that you have VERY hot).  Roast over the open flame using a utensil
    for turning occasionally or over the griddle until the pepper becomes
    blackened and blisters in various places.  This takes about 3 to
    5 mins usually.  Place roasted peppers between layers of a cloth
    towel and let them "steep" until quite cool.  They will slide right
    out of their skins after this.  Slice open with a knife, deseed
    and remove the stems.  I usually tear them length wise into strips
    and mix with chopped fresh tomato, onion, salt, pepper and a bit
    of lemon juice.  
    
    gailann

    Reply .2 is correct.
    
    However, wrapping them in a warm DAMP cloth allows them to steam
    better.  The larger the batch size, the better they steam, which
    facilitates their peeling.
    
    Also, a BBQ grill is an excellent way to roast them to that the
    small amount of smoke and odors waft away in the breeze.
    
    Here in New Mexico we roast a sack at a time.  Incidentally, you
    can get fairly good CANNED peppers under the "Ortega" label.  But
    the world's best are grown right here at the foot of the Sangro
    de Cristo mountains!

I've been roasting some recently so I thought I'd include my technique.

I usually look for the "day old" yellow or orange Dutch peppers in the
produce dept. They're normally marked down to be close to the price of
regular green bell peppers, but tend to be more fleshy. (I don't get
the fresh ones since over $3 a pound is too rich for me and if I'm gonna
roast 'em it doesn't really matter if  they're a little wilted anyway.)
Regular green bell peppers work out just as well, though.

Place the whole peppers over a hot barbeque grill, preferably one with
a closable lid, and cover. Turn about once every 10-15 minutes with
large barbeque tongs until the skins are blackened and blistered. I usually
do half a dozen large peppers at a time and they take about 45 minutes overall. 
Remove the peppers to a brown paper bag and close up the top. Allow them to
steam in the bag for 15 minutes or so until cool enough to handle.

Cut the stem out of the top and remove with most of the seeds. Slice the pepper
in half from top to bottom and flatten out on a cutting board. With the edge
of a knife, scrape the skin off and turn over to remove any other seeds.
Cut the flesh into strips and place in a bowl. Season with 6T olive oil,
2T balsamic vinegar, three cloves minced garlic, 2t sugar, �t salt and fresh
ground pepper. Cover and refrigerate for 3 or more hours.

The sweet, nutty taste of these is out of this world. I usually have all
I can do to make six peppers prepared this way last more that two days in
the fridge!

-Jack

    	I think (.-1) would be in heaven at my house. I grow many (12 this
    year) different varieties of peppers in my garden, including Italian
    Sweet. They've been very prolific this year. I've harvested several
    dozen large peppers from 6 plants. I roast and peel them and cut them
    into strips. Then I sautee them in olive oil (on low heat) with fresh
    basil, a little garlic, oregano, and freshly ground pepper. Then I
    refrigerate it. Good stuff. I have a tupperware container full of it as
    we speak...

Market Basket stores in So. New Hampshire this week have had fresh red peppers
(bagged) at $1.09 per pound!

I bought about half a dozen 3 lb bags this week and have begun roasting and
freezing them. I've found that if you roast them and clean/slice and put
into freezer containers, you can keep them for about forever and then thaw
them to use the recipe I put in .-2. They're as delicious in February or March
as they are now.

Since it's the weekend, and I just pigged out on some freshly prepared ones,
I think I'll buy about another bushel tomorrow.

-Jack

    Thanks for the tip!  Red Pepper, corn and cuke salad here I come....