Hi, friends! For those of you who don't know me all that well - here's a fun fact about my life. While I love baking, cooking is not exactly my forte. Wait, no, that's not an accurate description. Honestly, I'm pretty bad at cooking! Lucky for me, my husband is an amazing cook, and he loves doing it! Today I am sharing his recipe for making roasted red peppers at home. You may be thinking - "Why would I make these when I can just buy them?". Let me tell you - these peppers are sooooo delicious, and you can make a good amount of them for much less than you would pay at the store. We love these peppers in our house, and by love I mean we make them every single week! They are great on nice crusty bread, as part of a cheese plate, are great in pasta, and are wonderful on their own as a side dish. Okay enough talking - let's begin with what you'll need to make these.
3-4 red bell peppers
3 cloves garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
A few pinches each salt and pepper
First step - turn your outdoor grill on high. We like to make these right on the grill, but given the harsh (and I mean harsh) winters where we live, we do sometimes use the oven instead. *See notes for that option near the end of the post. Once you gather your supplies, remove any stickers from the peppers and rinse them thoroughly.
Once your grill is nice and hot, place the peppers on the rack and close the grill. Now, we wait...
Check the peppers after about 5 minutes. Since grill temperatures vary, you may be ready to turn the peppers, or they may need a few more minutes. The peppers will be black, don't be alarmed! You will be peeling the skin off anyway. The grilling process will cause the skin to sort of bubble up, making them easier to peel. If you see the skin starting to bubble, the peppers are ready to turn. See the image below for a close-up of the bubbling you are looking for.
Repeat the process for the remaining 3 sides of the pepper. After the first side, I would check each side about 3 minutes in rather than 5.
Once all 4 sides are done, you'll also want to flip the peppers bottom side up, so the top (where the stem is) also gets grilled for a minute or two.
Now at this point, your peppers are going to look super burnt, and may be oozing liquid out. Don't worry - this is normal and you haven't overcooked them or anything like that.
Carefully remove the peppers from the hot grill and bring them inside. Place them in an airtight container for about 45 minutes. During this time, the peppers cool, and the bowl/container gets nice and steamy, which makes the peppers easier to peel.
Once the peppers are cool, it's time to remove the skin and seeds. We do this over the sink since it's super easy. The peppers will be pretty delicate at this point and may fall apart in your hands a bit. Run some cool water to help peel the black skin off each pepper.
You'll also want to pull the pepper open, and remove the seeds.
This is what they look like when peeled and seeded.
Once all peppers are peeled and seeded, place them in a medium sized frying pan. Chop up your garlic, and add that to the pan, along with the olive oil and salt and pepper.
Side note: My husband has crazy good knife skills! I do not, and you do not need said knife skills to make these peppers.
Turn the stove/peppers on low. We are not trying to brown the garlic here - we are infusing the garlic flavor into the peppers by letting the mixture sort of steep in the pan. This also helps to soften the peppers a bit more. Leave the peppers on the stove for about 15 minutes, with some occasional stirring. Let the peppers cool slightly, and then transfer them to a container for storage, and place them in the fridge!
Once refrigerated, we typically eat the peppers all week long. I hope you will give this recipe a try! Some steps in the process are messy, but they are so delicious and the process is much less tedious than it seems here. Hey - if I can make these, anyone can! Please let me know if you have any questions on the process!
*If you prefer to use your oven instead of the grill - turn your oven to broil and place the peppers on a sheet pan. You will use the same process as the grill - let the peppers roast on each side for about 5 minutes, check them, and turn when the skin gets charred and bubbly.
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