Why Everyone Should Always Have Roasted Red Peppers in Their Refrigerator

I love roasted red peppers. They add extra flair to almost any meal. They are perfect when tucked into a gourmet sandwich or as part of an Italian-flavored salad. They add zest to an antipasto platter and are a delicious small bite served on crostini, with or without a slice of fresh mozzarella or other cheese. They can top pizza or be served with scrambled eggs. They are good on pasta or pureed into a dip. Roasted red peppers make a great side dish to a bigger meal. And I sometimes eat them straight out of the container when I get home from work – starving – and need a bite while I’m getting dinner ready.

They are available in jars in any supermarket, but store-bought roasted peppers have never been my favorite. The liquid in which they’re packed imparts a preserved flavor and they are sometimes a little too soft and slimy. So I learned to make my own.

Traditionally, one prepares roasted red peppers by blackening the peppers’ exterior over a flame – on the grill or even on the stovetop if you have a gas stove. The whole pepper is then sealed in a paper bag or plastic wrap-covered bowl for maybe 10 minutes, where the residual heat steams them and the char flavors the flesh. You can easily peel off the burnt skin, remove the core, seeds, and internal membranes from the pepper, and slice and serve them.

But I make mine differently. When in college, I learned the recipe from my long-lost friend Matt, who learned from his mother. I was taught to core, clean, and slice the peppers and fry them first, perhaps a Philadelphia tradition (as with long hot peppers), adding garlic, white wine, spices, and balsamic vinegar, all before roasting them under the broiler to achieve a spotty char. The advantage, along with the additions, is the blackened skin, which remains in this version, and adds a lot to the final flavor.

I prepare roasted red peppers well before I need them for a meal because they keep beautifully in the refrigerator. The olive oil from cooking rises to the top and solidifies, encasing and preserving the peppers below. I often have a container sitting in the refrigerator that I made after purchasing peppers that were on sale. That way they are always ready to add flair, as an extra component to a meal, or to eat whenever hunger strikes.

Roasted Red Peppers

When cutting raw peppers into strips, think about how you plan to use them. Sometimes, if I am going to put them on sandwiches, I slice the peppers into planks, maybe one and a half to two inches wide. If I am using them on crostini, I prefer thinner strips, just under a quarter inch. More often than not, because I am making them to have ready in the refrigerator, with no particular dish in mind, I cut them into strips about a half inch wide.

While this recipe is for roasted red peppers, yellow and orange peppers work just as well. But avoid green peppers, which are not ripe, and will make the end product bitter. Sometimes I combine colors, which makes them look even prettier on the plate.

about 1½ cups, 45 minutes

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

6 peppers, red, yellow, orange or a combination of colors

1 tsp. dried basil

½ tsp. kosher salt

½ tsp. freshly ground pepper

¼ cup dry white wine

¼ cup balsamic vinegar

2 cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped

5 fresh basil leaves, chopped, plus more for garnish

2 Tbsp. toasted pine nuts, optional

1. Wash and dry the peppers. They need to be dry so they fry rather than steam. Core and remove the seeds and membranes, and cut them into strips of your desired width.
2. Heat a heavy pot, large enough to hold all of the peppers, on high. When hot, add the olive oil and heat until almost smoking.
3. Add the peppers and stir to coat in olive oil. Cook the peppers uncovered, stirring frequently, for about five minutes.
4. Add the dried basil, salt, pepper, and white wine and stir. Cook for a few minutes until the wine has reduced by more than half.
5. Add the balsamic vinegar and cook for another few minutes until much of the balsamic vinegar has reduced.
6. Reduce heat to low and add the crushed or finely chopped garlic. Stir to combine and cook for an additional few minutes until the garlic is no longer raw.
7. Turn on the broiler and raise the upper oven rack so it is within two or three inches of the heat.
8. Transfer the peppers from the pot to a metal pan that can withstand the high heat of the broiler. (Do not use a Pyrex or CorningWare pan, which will shatter in the uneven heat. Been there. Done that.) Use a rubber spatula to get all of the liquid from the pot in which the peppers were cooked.
9. Place the pan in the oven on the top rack and set a timer for two minutes. The peppers will start to get a spotty, blackened char around the edges. Stir them and repeat, making sure to set the timer each time. Cook the peppers under the broiler, stirring about every two minutes, until there are charred spots all over, but they don’t look too burnt, a total of about 10 to 15 minutes.
10. Remove the peppers from the oven and allow to cool on the countertop. Do not stir the peppers after you remove them. The charred edges dry out while cooling and seem to stay a little crisp.
11. Place in a clean container and put in the refrigerator to store the peppers.
12. Just before serving, stir in chopped fresh basil and toasted pine nuts, and garnish with fresh basil leaves, if using.

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