ROASTED RED BELL PEPPERS

Roasted red bell peppers taste amazing and add a rich smoky flavor to soups, hummus, spaghetti and stews. Making your own smoky roasted red peppers is very easy and convenient and takes only minutes to prepare.
Place the oven rack closest to the broil element. Set the oven to broil setting.
Wash and pat the peppers dry. Remove the stems by cutting around them with the tip of a sharp knife, discard. Leave the peppers whole. Remove as much of the seeds as you can with the tip of your knife. You can get the rest of them out after roasting them.
Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Rub the skin with olive oil and place the peppers on the cookie sheet. To prevent splatter during broiling avoid letting extra oil to drip on the foil.

Broil the peppers for 7-8 minutes, or until the skin is charred on one side, use metal tongs to turn the peppers

Broil the other side for 5 minutes. You want charred skin all over, so if you see any uncharred skin turn the pepper and broil for 2 extra minutes for each area.

Remove the baking sheet from the oven and place on a heatproof surface.
Bring the edges of the aluminum foil together to tent over the roasted peppers and fold to close. Let the peppers sit for at least 20 minutes or until they are just cool enough to handle. The peppers should still be warm when you are peeling the skin.

You will be able to remove all the charred skin very easily.

Place the peppers on a cutting board and cut into 3-4 wedges. Remove any remnant seeds. Dice, slice or process according to your recipe.

You can also save yourself some time and roast a few red bell peppers at the same time and freeze them for a later use. Arrange the roasted pepper wedges in a single layer inside a gallon size freezer bag. Freeze them flat on a cookie sheet. When you are ready to use, just take out as many wedges as you need for the recipe and bring to room temperature.