by Edan Wright

Created on: July 15, 2010

STOP THE MADNESS! Lets take a moment to talk food.  There is a distinct difference between a Roasted Red Pepper and a Stuffed Red Pepper. In fact there are several differences. Stuffed Peppers are those things Grandma made covered in tomato paste and baked in the oven. Roasted Red Peppers are wonderful and have endless possibilities whether you're eating them as a dish , filling them or using them as an ingredient in other dishes. Roasted peppers are sold in jars and cans already prepared and are just fine to use in your meals but nothing beats a freshly roasted pepper.

There are many ways to roast a pepper. Some people will recommend doing all these strange things to your red peppers before roasting them including slicing them or marinading them prior to roasting them. I suppose being a chef who appreciates and understands food has made me a bit of a purist. Some things don't need a whole lot to make them good. Generally you are using roasted red peppers as an ingredient in another dish. Over seasoning them ,  over cooking them or masking the smokey flavor you gain from roasting the peppers can actually throw off the flavor of the parent dish you are creating.

Roasting red peppers are one of the easiest things to cook , however adding moisture to the pepper by marinading it prior to roasting can cause your pepper to take longer to cook. Slicing them will cause the juices to leak out making your pepper dry. Both will  cause it to become bitter rather then sweet and doing these things  can also prevent it from charring which is the most important part of this process. In this article I will let you in on a few " tricks of the trade" you will most likely only see in a professional kitchen.

  As I said there are several ways to roast a pepper. You can roast a pepper under a broiler , over a stove , in an oven , on a grill in a fire pit or in anything that has an open flame. Even an electric stove top or oven will work. You will also need a good set of metal tongs ,  a zip lock bag , and a bowl. For roasting under a broiler you will also need a sheet pan ( cookie sheet )

For a gas or electric stove top. ( I assure you this will work on an electric stove)

Step one :

Turn your stove on a medium to high heat. High, for electric. Place your pepper directly on the eye of the burner so the flame or rings and heating half the pepper. The skin will begin to char and turn black. With your tongs , turn the pepper every so often so that the entire

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