by Carla Martorello

Created on: January 15, 2009   Last Updated: September 15, 2011

The first time I tried roasted red peppers was when my Italian grandmother made them for me. This happened a long time ago, but it wasn't until a few years ago that I asked her for the recipe. She happily shared it with me, and now I want to share it with everybody else, because I believe no one should skip tasting this delicacy at least once in their lifetime, so here it is.

The first thing to do is grab each red pepper (use as many as you like, that is completely up to you) and completely cover them with oil using your hands. I know it is a little messy, but it is the best way to smear them. Moreover, use the oil you like most, but this recipe uses corn oil. Now turn the oven on and set it on maximum temperature, then put the oiled red peppers on an oven plate and into the oven. After a few minutes you will see that the red peppers have turned a little wrinkled, this is when you have to turn them around so that they will get cooked on the other side as well. Once the whole surface of the peppers have turned wrinkled it is time to remove them from the oven. Mind you, make sure not to burn them though; if the red peppers turn black somewhere on their surface then you have burned them. But don't dispair, just cut out that burned part or parts and you can still use the rest. After you take them out of the oven, let them cool down and then you have to peel off all of their skin.

Now comes the fun part: how to use your roasted red peppers. Well, there are many different things you can do. The one that I like the most is sliciing in very thin strips the whole pepper and putting them in a bowl. Fill the bowl up with oil and some salt and let it stay there for some time so that the oil absorbs the flavor of the roasted pepper's slices. Then you can use these delicious slices with whatever food you prefer: with spaghetti, for a sandwich, in a salad, on top of a juicy steak, with chicken, with fish, with rice, on top of toast with some cheese (or just without it), the options are unlimited! Of course you can also choose not to use oil on them, in which case you can eat them just the same way as mentioned before and more. All you have to do is use your imagination, because whatever you decide to eat with these marvellous roasted red peppers will simply be that much better. Enjoy!

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