Fire Roasted Red Peppers

Delicious right?  Why not make your own?  Now that our gardening season is nearing an end, we are canning and pickling and preserving as much of our last few crops as we can.  This week's menu.  Red Peppers.

First, we built a fire outside with a grill rack on top. I put 9 peppers on the rack to give them that nice smoky char.  You can even see our chickens in the background pecking away.  You can also do this on your outside grill or on your stovetop if you have gas.  You have to keep turning the peppers so they don't get too burnt.  Once all sides have been nice and blackened and the peppers are soft, you can remove them from the grill.

Let them cool down until they are easy to handle. At this point you'll need to peel off all that burnt skin, remove the seeds and put the peppers into a bowl.  It is ok if  some seeds still cling to the peppers or if some of the flesh is a little charred.  That is going to add tons of flavor.  You can tear or cut the peppers into wide strips and reserve all the juices.

Using a sterilized pint size jar add your cut up fire-roasted peppers with all their juices, a couple cloves of smashed garlic, some crushed red pepper, and sea salt. The spices you add are really to your liking.  Add as much or as little as you like or switch it up using the spices you like.  We still have fresh basil outside so I grabbed a handful of that and tore it into large pieces and added to the jar for color along with some black peppercorns and a whole clove.  Seal with the jar with the lid and refrigerate for up to 3 weeks.

Your very own, fresh, homemade,  Fire-Roasted Red Peppers.  Enjoy!