Sunday, March 04, 2007

ROASTED RED PEPPERS

As many red peppers as you want.

Wash the peppers and leave wet.

Line a cookie sheet or two or however many you need to accommodate the peppers, with aluminum foil.

Place peppers on lined cookie sheet and roast in a 350 degree oven turning from time to time as they begin to cook.

When they begin to deflate and soften, they are done. The time this takes varies and also depends if you prefer them soft or hard. Use your own judgement.

When they are done, place them in a large bowl (including any juice that may have escaped from the peppers, cover with plastic wrap and put them aside to cool down. If you don't have time to clean them you can refrigerate until you do.

I like to put some plastic bags down on the counter and then paper towels over them. Have a couple of bowls to work with and also keep a bowl of water near by to clean you hands now and then. Paper towels also. This is a bit messy but I assure you they are a thousand times better than store bought.

Hold the pepper over the bowl and peel and remove the seeds. Place the seeds and peels on the bags covered with paper towel for easy clean-up. The pieces of red pepper go into another bowl. After doing this with each pepper, take a clean bowl and go through them again to remove any remaining seeds. Pour all of the liquid through a strainer over the peppers.

The peppers can be separated into plastic containers and frozen.

To serve, season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. If you want to you can add a little olive oil as well. I think they taste just fine without it.