Oven-Roasted Bell Peppers

Every time I roast a bell pepper, I wonder why I don't do it more often. The slight smoky flavour and intensified sweetness are more than worth the tiny bit of work involved.

Those of you who are lucky enough to have a gas stove can roast peppers quickly and easily over the flame. I am not one of your fortunate number - our stove is electric. (I've tried using the coils, but it's not the same.)

So I roast my peppers under the broiler instead. To speed up the process, and save me the bother of turning the pepper as it broils, I butterfly the pepper first. Here's how to do it:

Turn oven to broil setting. Put the rack as high as it will go.

Core your pepper, slice it in half lengthwise, and remove the seeds and ribs. Place the pieces in a flat shallow baking pan.

Make a series of slashes all the way across the curved ends, 1/4" - 1/2" apart, straight down to the flat part of the pepper (this is a trick borrowed from sewing - it's a way to make curved pieces lie flat). Don't forget to do both ends of each piece.

Turn the halves over, and gently flatten. It's okay if a few bits break off.

Broil for about 10 minutes, or until evenly blackened. Start checking the pepper after 5 minutes. (Look like something out of a horror movie, don't they?)

Remove from oven and cover with bowl or pot lid until cool.

Now comes the fun part. The skin should peel right off. Try to get all the bits and pieces.

If you like, you can rinse the pepper during or after peeling. (I rinsed, just to see if it made any difference. It didn't make the skin come off any easier, but it did make the pepper drippy.)

And there you are - roasted pepper. All clean and ready to slice, dice, and enjoy.

In another post, I'll show you what I did with this particular pepper. Hint: it involves zucchini.

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