~ How to: Roast Large Chile Peppers in the Oven!!! ~
Roasting peppers on a gas grill, over a gas stovetop, or, in the oven, goes a long way to enhance their flavor and texture. Joe found some really handsome poblanos in our grocery store yesterday and I could not have been more pleased. Green and red bell peppers are available to us year round, but we don't often see poblanos in Central Pennsylvania in February. I'm roasting them tonight, so I can use them in a chile relleno casserole tomorrow!
When roasting large-sized peppers in the Summer months, Joe puts them directly on the grids of our gas grill, turning them until the skin is charred. When I'm roasting 1-2 indoors, I poke one with a fork and hold it over the flame on my gas stove, until the skin is charred on all sides. When I have several to roast, I do them all at once, under the broiler, in my oven (which is your alternative if you don't have a gas grill or a gas stove)!
~ Step 1. Stand each pepper upright, stem side up. Using a chef's knife, cut vertically down all sides of the pepper, to form 3-4 relatively flat sides. Remove seeds and trim out the white rib sections.
~ Step 2. Place the pepper pieces, side-by-side, in a single layer, skin-side-up, on an appropriately-sized baking pan that has been lined with parchment paper.
Note: This is six peppers and this is a 17 1/2" x 12 1/2" baking pan.
~ Step 3. Place pan 6" under preheated broiler until skins are blistered and a deep, chocolate-brown color, about 6-9 minutes.
Note: Watch carefully during this time, as peppers can and will go from chocolate-brown charred to black-burned quickly!
~ Step 4. Remove pan from oven, cover tightly with a sheet of aluminum foil and set aside for about 10-15 minutes. This will allow the skin to sweat and steam, which will make it easy to remove from the flavorful flesh.
~ Step 5. Uncover the pan. Using your fingertips, starting at the wide end of each pepper, begin pulling the thin, charred skin from the now smokey-flavored, softened flesh.
Removing the skin from six peppers took me less than 5 minutes. How easy was that!
Note: Some sources will instruct to char the skin to a "blackened" state. Feel free to do that, but, I find that tactic detrimental to the fine taste of any type of fresh pepper!
How to: Roast Large Chile Peppers in the Oven!!!: Recipe yields instructions to roast as many chile peppers, at the same time, as needed.
Special Equipment List: cutting board; chef's knife; 17 12" x 12 1/2" baking pan(s); parchment paper; aluminum foil
Cook's Note: For a really special way to use roasted poblano peppers, check out my recipe for ~ Chilly-Day Comfort Food: Robin's Chile Relleno Bake!!! ~ in Categories 3, 9, 13, 19 or 20!
"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti
(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2013)
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