If youre looking to get a nice smoky char on your peppers while achieving just the right tender texture, a method Ive had a lot of success with is to place the peppers directly over the flame of the gas stove (sorry electric people).
It doesnt take longmaybe 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 its easy to see whats 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.
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...
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.
I also roast jalepenos in this method. Unrelated to peppers, baked sweet potatoes (wrapped in foil) can be thrown on for a smokier flavor.
Nancy - How do you use your roasted jalapenos? I have a bunch to harvest & I'm looking for ideas.