Vegetables - Alan's Cookbook

Roasted peppers
Knowing how to roast a pepper opens up a whole new cuisine—
Spanish cooking. The technique is valuable in Cajun and Mexican
cuisine as well.
Red bell peppers
Olive oil
Optional
Before you roast a pepper, you need to deseed it.
The easiest way to do this is to cut the top of the
pepper off crossways, exactly at a line just below
where the stem meets the pepper. This gets the
stem off, leaves you with a beautiful little pepper
ring to eat as a snack, and reveals the seed pod
inside without disturbing it. Simply grab it out,
and shake out the few remaining seeds. Voila!
There are several ways to roast peppers. One fun
but somewhat finger-scorching method is over a
hot charcoal grill. Another is in the broiler.
Another is over a simple gas flame. However you
do it, the idea is to get the skin of the pepper so
hot that it blackens and partially bubbles off.
You’ll have to turn the peppers frequently with a
tongs to get the unpeeled parts closer to the heat
and the already done parts away.
When they’re properly blistered, the flesh of the
peppers is also partially cooked. Bring them off
the fire, let them cool enough so they can be
handled, then pick off the skin by hand while
rinsing them in tepid water. They’re now ready to
be refrigerated, preserved in olive oil, or used in
chili, canapes or another dish.
Cooking time: 30 minutes
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