How to Roast Peppers

When you’re getting down to those final stages of cutting, and you are reducing your consumption of fats, you want to have a few easy techniques to enrich the flavor of your vegetables without adding oils and seasonings. Roasted peppers are a great way to boost flavor, they’re low in calories so they’re a great carb choice when you’re reducing overall carb intake, and they’re super yummy! You can use this same technique with eggplant as it’s thick skin charrs nicely and the effect is a smokey, rich taste similar to babaganoush.

First, roast your peppers whole over an open gas flame. It might seem a little crazy at first, but just leave the pepper on the flame until it gets a solid char. Turn the pepper on all sides so that the entire surface blackens. I turn the stem side down as well at the end. Whatever doesn’t blacken won’t peel off…

Remove the peppers from the burner, place in a container, and cover, (you can use plastic wrap, but I just put a dinner plate over a bowl). Let the peppers steam in their own heat until they’re cool enough to handle…about 10 minutes should do the trick.

Remove the skin with your fingers. It should peel off easily, and you can wipe any remaining skin off with some water. I dip my fingers in a water bowl and just work around the pepper. Don’t be tempted to dunk the pepper in water as you want to retain the smokey flavor, and not water it down.

From here, you just cut out the stem, open up the pepper and remove the seeds and veins. I like to julienne the pepper and add it to my omelettes, as a topping for fish dishes, or on salads.
Julienne: to cut into thin strips, about 2 1/2 – 2 3/4″ long and 1/8″ wide.