Roast Peppers on a Gas Stove
Once peppers are roasted, their flavor takes on a deep, sometimes smoky flavor that adds great dimension to a dish. Salads, sauces, and many other dishes can benefit from their simple addition.
There are a variety of methods to roast peppers, ranging from an oven or a grill to a gas stove top. An oven or grill will probably be more effective to roast peppers. However, in this article, we’ll focus on the gas stove, and the peppers being roasted are Anaheim green chiles.
Contents
Steps
- Cut ¾ of the stem off each pepper and insert a wooden (not plastic) chopstick through the stem, pushing until it is inserted into the pepper completely. The chopstick will serve as a skewer so you can rotate the peppers and remove them from the flame once they are done roasting. Alternately, you can forgo the chopsticks and use tongs instead.
- Turn the gas stove to medium-high or high. You want a fairly large flame to ensure the quickest roasting time and sufficient blackening. Lower temperatures will require more gas and time to roast the peppers. You may want to line the stovetop with aluminum foil before lighting the flame, as this procedure can get messy.
- Place the peppers on the burners, making sure they are close to the flame.
- Leave the peppers over the flame, constantly monitoring them and listening for cracking noises. These noises simply tell you the skin is cracking and that the peppers are roasting. This is a good sign.
- Rotate each pepper once the skin has blackened in a certain area. You should rotate the peppers so that the entire surface is black and crispy. Don’t worry about that pitch black color. The flesh underneath will be perfectly fine.
- Remove peppers from the heat once they are totally blackened. There are several ways you can proceed to cool the peppers.
- Put them in a paper bag and close it. This will steam the peppers and aid in removing the skins. You can also place the peppers in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap, or seal in a zip-top freezer bag, or put into a saucepan with the lid on.
- Alternatively, plunge them immediately into an ice water bath. The ice water will stop the cooking process and facilitate the removal of the peppers’ skins. This method, however, is more likely to pull flavor out of the peppers.
- Rub the peppers between your fingers, or scrape off the skin with your hands. Once all the skin is off, place peppers on a cutting board.
- Cut the tops off each pepper and slice down one side, exposing the inner seed cavity. Scrape off the white membrane and seeds and discard. This can also be done by hand under running water.
Tips
- It's fine if a few bits of charred skin remain on the peppers. They'll add even more flavor.
- Soak wooden skewers in warm water for 10 minutes before placing peppers on for roasting. This will help keep them from burning and breaking in the process.
- Rinse off peppers before roasting. They might contain chemical and/or organic residues.
- All kinds of peppers can be roasted. Red bells, green chile, and jalapenos are among the most common types of peppers roasted.
- Washing hands in liquid soap and salt, or lemon juice, will help get rid of the smell and "hotness" on your hands and fingers.
- If you don't have gloves, you can use a heavy-duty paper towel to remove skins. This works especially well if the peppers are really hot (in both heat and flavor).
- Washing hands in a mix of oil (food oil) and soap before using the water, can reduce the "hotness" a lot - this is because the hot parts of the chili plants can not be dissolved with water
Warnings
- Watch out if you are using wooden skewers, they may burn and start a fire!
- You may become addicted to the aroma that roasting green chiles produces. If so, you’ll probably spend more money than you should just to experience the scent over and over again.
- MAKE SURE YOU NEVER touch your eyes after peeling hot, spicy peppers. It will severely irritate them for several minutes.
- If roasting hot peppers, there are a few precautions.
- Because the fumes can irritate your eyes, nose, and lungs, you may want to consider wearing goggles or a mask if this becomes a problem.
- Wear gloves. Once the hot oils settle into your skin, there's not much you can do to get rid of the burning pain but wait. Only time (12-24 hours depending on the strength of the oils) will allow it to wear off. At the very least, use gloves when removing the seeds, but if you don’t have a pair lying around, make sure to wash your hands before touching anything else, especially your eyes.
- Also, make sure the kitchen is well ventilated so noxious fumes can leave.
