The Wooden Spoon: Fire Roasting Peppers and Tomatoes

Roasting peppers and tomatoes brings out the best in them. When roasted, these already tasty items become sweetly smoky in flavor, adding a distinctive flair to whatever they are used in.

Yes, it’s easier to buy a jar or can. But where’s the fun in that?

I’ve roasted peppers over the burner of my gas stove. It was time consuming and tedious.

I’ve roasted tomatoes in my oven, it heated up the house, took a long time and the skins didn’t come off quite as easily as I’d hoped.

Roasting peppers and tomatoes on the grill has proven to be the easiest method, with the best results.

I wanted to try my hand at making a Fire Roasted White Chicken Chili, so I grabbed 5 Poblano Chilis at the grocery. An inexpensive purchase.

Heat your grill up on High and clean the grate. Rinse and dry your peppers/tomatoes. Place peppers/tomatoes directly on the grill and close the lid.

NOTE: I roasted these on separate days, but you could put all three of these on the grill at the same time if you wanted.

Come back after about 3-5 minutes. Turn the peppers a quarter turn when the bottom is blackened and blistered.

Tomatoes will not hold their shape, so just move them around until all sides are blackened.

For bell shaped peppers, stand on both ends as well as sides.

Continue to turn, close lid and roast for 3-5 minutes (or more if needed) until they are completely blackened and blistered. Remove from grill to a plate or bowl and cover with foil. This steams them and allows the skins to separate easily.

Do something else for a while, and let them sit there. 20 minutes should be enough time.

Place one pepper on your work surface and begin to simply slip the skins off…

The skins will literally slide right off, there may be a few tiny areas where you’ll have to tug a wee bit.

Next, remove the stem and seed. The stem will pull right out, then just use your fingers to scrape out the seeds.

I’m saving the red bell peppers to make soup later in the week, so I placed them in a freezer bag and tossed them in the freezer…

The three large tomatoes cooked down to a scan 1/2 cup of “meat”. I’ll use this to make a small bit of marinara for a fish dish in a day or so. Into the fridge it goes.