My mother-in-law has shared some mighty-fine family recipes, and these roasted peppers are among our all-time favorites. They are super delicious served hot, cold…as a side dish, as a sandwich, as a snack…morning, noon or night!! They take a bit of work, but good food is well worth the effort. (right???)
I have her written recipe, and have watched her dozens of time, so I’ll try my best to keep this authentic. First up, you’ll need 4 – 5 lbs. of red bell peppers: (she would usually make 10 lbs. 😉
Remove the seeds by cutting around the green stem at the top of the pepper and then pull the stem out. (sometimes you have to give the stem a little twist) Reach into the pepper and remove as much of the pulp and seeds as possible:
Next, place the cored peppers on a broiling pan:
Place peppers under the broiler, and broil until skins are somewhat blackened. You’ll have to rotate each pepper during cooking so that all sides blacken. It took about 35 minutes for my peppers to cook:
Place cooked peppers in a paper bag, or plastic grocery sack, and allow to cool until peppers are easy to handle, but still warm. This process helps loosen the skin, making it easier to remove the skin from the pepper.
Now…the messy, not-so-fun part. (Don’t give up…it’s still worth it!!) Remove the skin from the pepper by peeling it off with your fingers. The goal here is to remove the entire peel. (Well, sometimes close enough is good enough.) After the skin is removed, separate each pepper into three or four sections and set aside until all peppers have been peeled and separated.
Drizzle olive oil on the bottom of a casserole dish (I used a 13 x 9 x 2) and arrange the first layer of peppers. Sprinkle lightly with bread crumbs (mine are seasoned), place some fresh, thin garlic slices on top, sprinkle lightly with salt (pepper is optional) and drizzle olive oil across the entire layer.
I started with 4.5 lbs. of peppers, and I sliced 5 cloves of garlic:
Place the next layer of peppers directly on top of the first, and repeat the seasonings. There are three layers here:
Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for approx. 45 minutes (they’ll be really hot and bubbly). Remove the foil and continue cooking until they are completely soft and tender, and slightly browned on top…about 15 minutes more.
Yes, you can buy roasted peppers in a jar but, trust me, they do not compare.
I hope that I have honored my mother-in-law by sharing this version of her treasured recipe; one she generously and lovingly prepared for her grateful family.
“A”
Note to Mom: I got the peppers for $1.29 a pound!!
OMG Ann, these look soooooo good! I’ma makin a these this weekend il mio buon amico!
Hope you enjoyed them, Carol. They make a great sandwich!
Hanno un grande giorno! (gotta love google translator 😉
Nick and I think that these look fabulous! Nick says “Miss Annie is a GOOOOOOD cooker!” He also wants me to type that he “loves you”. Gonna have to try and make these!
awww…I love and miss my Nicky-noodles 😉 I wonder if he would have eaten these at lunch?? Let me know if you give them a try!
ann…Ann!…ANN!!!!! Adam’s has red peppers for .99cents/lb. .99 CENTS A POUND!! (Just bought about 5 lbs). 🙂
I am SO there, Carol! Thanks for the “heads-up”.
Ughhhh. I missed the 99-cent sale. Haven’t seen them that cheap in years!! Let me know how you like the recipe.