I relish taking care of all my girls by cooking for them,
but sometimes I like to cook just because I want to make something with my
hands. Pesto is a good example of this. I just like watching the blender slowly
swallow the basil and turn a big head of green leaves into a long-lasting and
savory sauce.
The other day, I got caught up in making roasted red peppers
for much the same reason. Roasting a pepper is easy. Here's how to do it:
Just rinse a red pepper and put it on a gas burner, and turn on the
flame. Using tongs, rotate or otherwise move the pepper around so every side of
it becomes charred all over, and starts to look like this:
When it is as black as you can get it, put it in a bowl and
cover the top tightly with plastic wrap. Leave it for about fifteen minutes, or
longer, and after the pepper cools its skin will slide right off. Knock off the
seeds and any bits of charred skin, then slice it and put in a container with
enough olive oil and vinegar to cover, with a bit of oregano in it.
It is fun to make roasted red peppers, and they keep a good while,
too. The nicest thing about them, though, is come some Saturday when you need a
nice sandwich in a hurry—say when you have about ten minutes of free time to
ejoy—they will be there for you.