Cooking Lesson: Getting Roasted

I stopped this morning, while running errands, at a fruit and meat market my girlfriend keeps telling me about.  I don’t typically give a second thought to the markets around here.  I mean, it’s all the same . . . no organics, a bunch of ground beef, pork, and maybe some frozen imported fish.  The produce tends to be a bit more on the exciting side, but it’s the same from store to store.  Anyhow, I made a stop to see these gi-nourmous chicken breasts my friend’s been talking about.  And, after I walked in, I did notice right off, this place looked a little different than the other places around here; mainly the produce looked vibrant and fresh.  I decided to forgo my normal - “Get-what-you-want-and-get-the-heck-out-before-someone-asks-you-what-in-the-WORLD-you-would-use-that-for-you-weirdo-oh-and-by-the-way-do-you-cater-cuz-we’re-having-a-wedding-at-the-hall-and-love-those-little-saucy-meatballs”.  Then I spied these gorgeous organic red bell peppers on special at 2 for $1.00 (They had yellow ones, too!).  O.K., I’m paying attention now.  Mangoes for fifty cents?  Whole pineapples for $1.39.  Holy moley. 

Better go check out the meat counter.

I took a little paper number (number 023) and started browsing.  I noticed right away that they had local fresh fish.  Nothing from China in this case.  They were all filets, nothing whole, but they looked good.  The clerk called out “Number 23″ and I asked if I could see the catfish filet.  Now, let me tell you something about Mid-Michigan, if you ask to “see” a cut - the $5.00 per hour pimply teen clerk will typically look at you, point in the case and say “See?”  But not this time, the guy looked at me, pulled out the catfish filet in question and said “Firm, smells good, too.  Here, check it yourself.”  And I did.  And he was right.

Hmm.  My mind wandered to this week’s menu, where I clearly have “Gyros” written on tomorrow, knowing full well that I will have to make my Gyros with turkey or beef.  Sad, huh?  I handed back the fish and asked “Do you have any lamb?”  He smiled.  Not only did he call my number, he had my number, and he thought he had me pegged!  I immediately started working on my uninterested face.  He said “Mhm, sure do, I have a leg, and some shoulder steaks, what did you have in mind?”  and I told him about my Gyros.  He went in the back and came out with ground lamb.  Holy moley.  Again.  Except this time I kept on my poker face.

I decided to go out on a limb.  “Do you have whole fish?”  I stretched out the “o” in whole.  I wanted to make myself very clear.  This was no time for misunderstandings.  “Yup.  What kind you want?  I can have it here tomorrow.”  “Do you have natural turkeys?”  “Yup.”  “Duck, do you have duck?”  “Yup”  I knew the color was rising in my face, and I wasn’t going to be able to keep my poker face much longer.  I could see number 024 shifting from one foot to the other impatiently behind me, ”What about skirt steaks?”  “Ah, that’s easy, they’re in the case.”

And that’s when it happened.  I broke out into a little happy dance, right there in the store.  And the clerk smiled.  He beamed, actually.  I said “I could kiss you!!” and then I composed myself because I heard number 024 let out a terrible sigh, a really loud and rude like sigh, I might add.

Fine.  Fine.  Fine.  I let number 24 take his turn and I let on that I was actually pleased with a local market.  I came home with 2 red bell peppers, 16 pounds of ground lamb, a skirt steak, and a locally farmed fresh stripped bass on order.  You guessed it.  Holy Moley.

So, on to today’s cooking lesson . . .

Roasted Red Peppers

No reason to buy these at the store, you can easily make these at home in less than an hour.  Start with fresh, ripe, and firm peppers without blemishes.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
Wash peppers well, cut in half, and remove the seeds and stems.
Lightly oil a cookie sheet with olive oil and place peppers on cookie sheet with the skin facing up.

Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until skin of pepper is black.  If the peppers are large, or super juicy, it can take a little longer.  Just keep checking them until the majority of the skin is black.

Remove from oven and place peppers inside a bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Leave covered in the bowl for 12-15 minutes.  This allows the steam to loosen the skin.

Cool the peppers and peel off the skin.
Tada!  Roasted red peppers, one of life’s simplest pleasures. 

That was easy, wasn’t it?!

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