It's Roasted Red Pepper Season

by Elizabeth Kelly

September in Ontario and red peppers are in season. There are so many meals to invite the red pepper to. Chili, spaghetti, stuffed red peppers, soups, eggs, the list is endless. This past weekend I decided to roasted some red peppers.

I have roasted peppers but this year I approached this with a little trepidation as I recently moved and now have a convection oven. I wasn't quite sure how successful I was going to be. What I ended up with was an experiment.

I first quartered the peppers, removed the stem and seeds, brushed them with oil before roasting them. Not quite satisfied with that, I then left them whole, brushed them with oil, and roasted them with the convection on. That wasn't too bad but they roasted unevenly. I really had to watch them carefully I don't think the oven is all that great. Finally I roasted them whole, brushed with oil, with the convection turned off and liked the results.

Each batch I placed in a bowl and covered with plastic to steam so that the skins peeled off easily. I noticed that the peppers I cut first didn't peel as well and were darker, having roasted on both sides. The peppers roasted whole looked great but is was not fun picking the seeds out. It was slow and tedious and I was chasing them seeds all over the pepper trying to remove them.

I wondered what the expert did. My sister-in-law, Ivana, was roasting 4 bushels over weekend and I very much consider her the expert. I thought maybe she would have some tips that would make the process easier. There were quite a number of things she did differently

Firstly, while she did roast the pepper whole, she cut the stem out first and removed the seeds. Secondly, she didn't oil them, and thirdly, she roasted them on the BBQ. She was roasting 20 peppers at a time to my 8. This was much faster than what I was doing.

We both were freezing them in batches ready to use. One of the batches she was freezing, one roasted pepper per bag, was for the recipe below that was inspired by my sister.

Ivana is more than the red pepper expert, she is also an intuitive cook, using many years of experience and advice from her mother to guide the quantities she uses. She shared the following with me. It's quick and easy, taking about 30 minutes total from start to finish.

Roasted Pepper and Chicken on Flatbread

Quantities are a guide. Adjust to your own taste

12 " Pita or Nan, round or square

Pesto

Leftover Grilled Chicken

Handful of Fresh Spinach leaves

1/4 of a Red Onion, sliced thin

3-4 Cherry Tomatoes, halved (or more if desired)

1/2 Roasted Red Pepper, cut into strips

Feta or Goat Cheese

Preheat Oven to 350.

Spread pesto thinly over flat bread. Evenly distribute the chicken, red onion, cherry tomatoes, and roasted red peppers on top of the pesto. Sprinkle generously with Feta or goat cheese.

Place on a parchment lined baking pan and bake for 20 minutes. Cool a couple of minutes before cutting.