The Chef Within

I’ve blogged alot about vegetables lately.  Roasted vegetables are out of this world and for some reason I just love the thought of roasting in the winter.  I suppose because grilling is out of the question for most people, roasting seems to take its place.  So here’s the procedure for peppers with a twist at the end.

The example here is done with bell peppers but you can roast chili peppers or all kinds with this method as well.  Cut your peppers into slices or large dices of equal size.  The strips should not be too thin but have substantial meatiness after roasting.  If they are too thin to begin with they will shrivel into nothing and you’ll miss out on biting into the sweetness that roasting produces.  Put the cut pieces into a bowl and give the vegetables a small squirt of olive oil

and sprinkle of salt and pepper.

Toss and then transfer to a baking sheet.  As you can see here I used the same pan over and over again to cut down on dirty dishes and also to build up the “fond” which is the crusty golden goodness that the vegetables leave on the pan.  Notice that the pan is not overcrowded.  Every piece should contact the pan.

I don’t very often use the convection feature on my oven but this is one case where I do.  If you don’t have convection simply preheat your oven to 400. 

With convection (set at 400 as well) you can roast two pans at a time, which is handy if you are making a larger batch.  In a standard oven it might be best to do just one pan at a time for a quicker, even roast.

Allow to stay in the oven until the edges start to blacken and the bottoms become golden.  Transfer to a bowl and serve at room temperature.  That’s another nice thing about this vegetable.  It makes a great side dish because you can make it ahead of time and simply allow it to sit at room temperature until you are ready for it.

After roasting your pan should develop a wonderful buildup of crusty goodness the French call “fond”. 

Take the pan that was used and add a little water to the bottom and rub the  fond with your fingers to loosen all that goodness.  The French call that deglazing. 

Strain it into a container and you will have some undescribably delicious vegetable stock for soups and sauces.  The fond produces an amazing liquid that will prove to be such an asset to a soup.  The stock can be used right away or if you don’t need it in the next few days put it in a quart jar and send it to the freezer.  Every time you roast a vegetable, deglaze the pan with water and add it to your jar in the freezer. 

BTW - onions are also a great vegetable to roast.  Next time we’ll see what can be done with the bits and pieces that were left when cutting the peppers.