With the new trends in cooking, there seem to be a lot of recipes calling for roasted peppers. If you’re wondering how to roast peppers there are generally two methods.  Both are easy.

The first method requires a gas stove.  If you have a gas stove, turn the flame on high and set one or two peppers directly over the heat.  Try and position them so the pepper is directly over the  points of the flame.  When the skins blacken on one side rotate the pepper with a pair of tongs and blacken the other sides.  And I do mean blacken.  When the peppers are at least 75 percent blackened then take them off the burner and put them in a plastic bag and let them sit for 20 minutes.  That resting time is important because as peppers sit in the bag, the steam inside the bag helps loosen the skins.  Then when the peppers are cool enough to handle, simply peel off the blackened skins with your fingers and with the help of a little running water to rinse your fingers free of black bits periodically.  Try not to rinse the peppers because that will remove some of the great flavor.  What’s left is the meat of the pepper.

The second method is done in the oven under the broiler.  For this you turn your broiler on high and get the oven good and hot.  Set the peppers on a baking sheet and place them as close as you can to the broiler element.  When the tops get blackened (and you’ll want to keep an eye on them) rotate the peppers, to blacken the next side.  It’ll take a few minutes to blacken each side.  When all the sides are black, take them off the baking sheet, wrap them in a plastic bag and let them sit for a few minutes.  Same as the gas stove method.

Roasting peppers does so much to enhance the flavor of the food and it’s really an easy way to get dramatic results.