Roasted Peppers & Chiles

Homemade roasted peppers and chiles have a wonderful campfire character. They’re far superior to jarred roasted peppers in both flavor and texture, and their smokey goodness is delicious in everything from sandwiches and salads to soups and sauces.

For roasting, select straight-sided peppers and chiles; avoid irregularly shaped ones as they are difficult to roast evenly. Place the whole pepper directly on the grate of a gas burner and set the heat to high, so that the flame is licking the pepper. If you don’t have gas, you can use a preheated broiler. Cook the pepper, using a pair of tongs to turn it, for 1 to 2 minutes per side.


Continue until the skin is charred and blistered all over.


The flesh of the pepper will still be relatively firm at this point. Transfer the pepper to a bowl, seal with plastic wrap, and let rest for about 15 minutes, or until cool enough to handle.


The steam from the pepper will finish the cooking process and loosen the skin. Once it is cool, transfer the pepper to a cutting board and use a paring knife to scrape off its skin.


Don’t worry about removing every last black speck.


This can be a bit messy, but avoid any temptation to rinse the pepper off with water, or the flavor will disappear down the drain along with the skin. But using a small bowl to collect the waste can make it more manageable.


Cut the pepper open.


Cut out the seed pod.


And then remove any remaining seeds.


The roasted pepper is now ready.


It can be used as is, julienned, diced, or pureed for a recipe.

Green, red, yellow, and orange bell peppers and fresh chiles such as Anaheims and poblanos can all be roasted this way. Roasted peppers and chiles will keep in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator for several days.

Meatloaf

Now that’s some honest comfort food to fill your belly. My meatloaf is so full of flavor, that people are shocked to learn it’s made with turkey, not beef. In fact, it’s so good that it became the single best-selling item in the deli when I was the Store Chef at Wild Oats Market. Will you forgive me for bragging?

Turkey Meatloaf
Printable Recipe

Unsalted butter, for greasing the baking tray
4 large eggs
2 small yellow onions, quartered
10 to 12 cloves garlic
1/3 cup tomato paste
½ cup packed Italian parsley leaves
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried basil
2 tablespoons kosher salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 ¾ pounds ground turkey, preferably dark meat
3 cups panko breadcrumbs

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Butter a foil-lined baking tray. Combine the eggs, onions, garlic, tomato paste, parsley, oregano, basil, salt, and pepper in a blender and blend until smooth.


Mix together with the turkey and panko in a large bowl. Transfer to the baking tray and form into an even loaf.


Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until cooked through. A meat thermometer will register 165ºF when it is cooked through. Tent with foil to keep warm, and allow to rest for about 15 minutes. Cut into thick slices and serve immediately.

Serves 8 to 12. This recipe is healthy and economical in addition to being absolutely delicious. Ground beef can, of course, be substituted for the ground turkey. Leftovers make fantastic meatloaf sandwiches.

A Large Pan

Always use a pan that’s large enough to avoid overcrowding.

Waffle Cones

My mother and my father like to tease me because I collect cookware. My father once even went so far as to call me “the Imelda Marcos of dishes”. But my parents have a waffle cone maker, and even I don’t own a waffle cone maker.


Never mind the fact that they only have this waffle cone maker because I gave it to them as an anniversary gift, can you believe they have a fun kitchen toy that I don’t?

I just had to do something about this inequitable situation, so I got myself a waffle cone maker too.


And Mom sure does make good waffle cones. In the blink of an eye, she whipped up the batter. She puts out the cones by the numbers.


They’re fun to form.


The only tricky part is making sure that there isn’t a hole in the bottom for the ice cream to drip out of.


Make that homemade vanilla bean ice cream.


Now, I think that’s fair.