Roasted Red Peppers–No UPC Code Involved

 

The red peppers in Florida seem to sell themselves quite well. One can see their vibrant red color from as far away as the Java Dog Coffee Bus parked 50 feet away. They are of course delicious raw and to be honest, I’ve always preferred them that way and never bothered to try roasting them. But if it’s possible to make local red peppers any better than they already are, roasting is the way to do it. Even the fancy jarred roasted red peppers don’t come anywhere near the sweetness of these guys from Worden Farms and guest after guest of mine asked ‘What did you do to sweeten these?” Not much. Local red peppers are sweet to begin with and the oven gives then a helping hand.  Give this a try. You invest a few dollars and around a half an hour of time and you have a homemade condiment and side dish that can be used throughout the week to liven up your meals or just to eat as a snack. No jar to recycle either. Just peppers to eat.

Home Roasted Red Peppers

Preheat Oven to 450

Core and quarter 6 red peppers and put on cookie sheet

Drizzle with 4 tablespoons of Olive Oil and season with salt and pepper

Roast for 20 minutes or until peppers start to blacken on the edges

Remove from cookie sheet, let cool and serve

I’d love to hear some ways that you guys like to use roasted red peppers. I have some ideas but I’d love to post some reader ideas as well.