Apartment Therapy The Kitchn | Technique: Stovetop Roasted Peppers

Technique: Stovetop Roasted Peppers

If you’re looking to get a nice smoky char on your peppers while achieving just the right tender texture, a method I’ve had a lot of success with is to place the peppers directly over the flame of the gas stove (sorry electric people).

It doesn’t take long—maybe five minutes. All you do is crank up the flame and watch over the peppers with a set of tongs in one hand and a glass of wine in the other. This way it’s easy to see what’s going on with them and you can turn them to control the rate of cooking, assuring perfect charred-all-over peppers without raw, impossible to peel areas or overly blackened, dried out patches.

The peppers will fill your kitchen with their tempting aroma, they’ll be perfectly soft and best of all, they’ll be a snap to peel.

When they’re done, wrap them in a clean dishtowel and put the towel in a plastic bag to steam. Once they’re cool enough to handle, they’ll peel beautifully. They'll even have a nice roasty flavor as if you’d cooked them over an open fire…because you did. I’ve been cutting them into strips and marinating them with olive oil, thinly sliced raw garlic and capers and adding them to everything.

Comments (4)

I also roast eggplants with this exact method, though I peel right away (a bit painful, some people do it under running cold water). Then I drizzle the flesh with lemon juice so it doesn't darken...
Then just mix with olive oil, pinch of salt and and some yogurt if you like. There you have one of the greatest mezes of Turkish/Greek meals!

Thanks for the post Vanessa, I'll try peppers next time...

posted by Asli on 2006-10-03 11:42:10

I'm planning on using this exact same method for a pile of poblano peppers I got in my CSA bag this week. Since I can't eat a dozen fresh poblano peppers before they go bad, I'm planning on roasting, peeling, de-seeding and then freezing for future use.

If using this method for any type of hot pepper, make sure to wear gloves when peeling and avoid the steam!! The steam produced by the hot peppers can cause eye irritation and a lot of coughing...a lesson learned the hard way.

posted by minipanda on 2006-10-03 12:36:18

I also roast jalepenos in this method. Unrelated to peppers, baked sweet potatoes (wrapped in foil) can be thrown on for a smokier flavor.

posted by nancy on 2006-10-04 02:39:16

Nancy - How do you use your roasted jalapenos? I have a bunch to harvest & I'm looking for ideas.

posted by leeds on 2006-10-04 09:06:53