Preserve smoky sweet roasted peppers by freezing them.
Roasted red peppers may be sweet and mild, or sharp and spicy, depending on the variety. Anaheim peppers, usually sold green, turn red when they ripen. They have a fruity and mildly hot flavor. Serranos -- a small slender red pepper -- are very hot. Jalapenos are another spicy pepper that are usually found in the grocery store in the under-ripe green stage. They will turn red when they fully ripen. Red bell peppers are sweet and are the ones usually sold jarred.
Instructions
1. Roast the peppers using your favorite method, keeping the spicy red peppers separate from the sweet peppers. Place the peppers in a plastic zipper-locked bag as soon as you remove them from the grill or smoker, again keeping the sweet and spicy peppers separate. Let the peppers set until they are cool to the touch.
2. Don latex gloves when handling spicy hot peppers. You could prepare two or three peppers without the gloves, but if you're freezing several dozen, the latex prevents the oil and heat of the peppers from getting onto your skin and under your fingernails.
3. Rub the skin off of the peppers with your fingers. It will be easier to remove because of the heat from smoking and then cooling. The skin isn't digestible. You're not removing any flavor of the smoking if you rub it off. Slip a paring knife under the skin of any stubborn spots and lift off the skin.
4. Lay the peppers on a cutting board. Cut the stem end off, preserving as much of the flesh as you can. Cut the pepper open and in half. Scrape out the seeds.
5. Lay the peppers on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking oil. The oil keeps the peppers from sticking. Place them in the freezer until they are frozen. Transfer the peppers to labeled zipper-locked food-storage bags.
6. Lay the next batch of spicy red peppers on the cutting board. Cut them into 1/4-inch strips. Turn the peppers and cut them again into 1/4-inch squares. Measure tablespoons of the chopped peppers onto a sprayed cookie sheet and freeze them until they are solid. Recipes often call for 1 tbsp., 1/4 cup or 1/2 cup of chopped, smoked peppers. Freezing tablespoon-sized mounds makes it convenient. Transfer the peppers to a labeled zipper-locked food-storage bag.
7. Lay a batch of sweet, smoked red peppers on the cutting board and cut them into 1/2-inch strips. Sweet red peppers are often used in salads. The 1/2-inch strips are a good size for that. Pack a cup of the strips into a labeled zipper-locked food-storage bag. Press out the air and place the bag in the freezer.
Tags: spicy peppers, cutting board, labeled zipper-locked, labeled zipper-locked food-storage, peppers cutting, peppers cutting board
