The sweet smell of roasted peppers always bring me back to place of childhood. Towards end of Summer, neighbors, family and friends would roast excess peppers from the garden for jarring or freezing. Yesterday, I roasted some red peppers. For a moment, it felt like a moment of Summer but didn’t feel like Summer with our East Coast snow storms! It brought some warmth in the kitchen with the smell of oven roasted peppers. Either over roast or pan grill is another great option too!

Roasted peppers are very simple to prepare.

Preheat your oven at 450 degrees F.

Place 6-8 red peppers in an oven pan. Lightly coat the peppers with a drizzle of olive oil. Lightly season with salt. Roast the peppers, turning, until the skins blister and turn black on all sides.

Remove them from the oven and tightly cover the pan with foil or seal them in a a papper back until they cool. The secret to pealing the peppers with ease is the steam. The peppers will peel away very easily!

Slice the peppers in 1-inch strips and place them in a bowl. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and add a clove of garlic for flavoring I have also added red chili flakes for a little heat (optional of course).

Roasted peppers are great as a side dish or the perfect lunch or light dinner. Serve with fresh crusty bread or toasted bread. I served with peccorino cheese, black cured olives and some white wine (Trebbiano left over from the other day). Molto buono!

Roasted peppers are also featured in my book Breaking Bread in L’Aquila.

a presto,

maria