• Red Bell Peppers
• freezer container
• Good quality extra virgin Olive Oil
• Garlic
• Fresh Basil leaves
• Salt

Hint from Patty Vasilatos, Poolesville, Maryland

Place the red peppers directly on the grate over hot coals or gas flame of your grille.  Using tongs, turn the peppers when the skins have blackened. The skins should be get bubbly and black, THEN you turn them.  Blacken all sides, and then, immediately, place the peppers in a brown paper bag and close tightly.  Fill up the bag with blackened peppers and keep the bag closed tightly for about 10-15 minutes (by putting them in the brown bag, the steam that is produced in the bag will allow the skin to pull  away from the flesh of the pepper, thus, making removal of the skins easy).

Now, it's time to remove the skins from the peppers.  I caution you to USE SURGICAL GLOVES(hospital gloves) when removing the skins, as the carbon from the skin will be difficult to remove from your hands.  Carefully, peel off the skins and place the peppers in a bowl.  Once all the peels have been removed (don't worry if some of the carbon sticks to the meat - it's sooo good), cut the peppers in half, seed them, and set them aside in a bowl.

Now, place several halves in a freezer container, alternating with some good quality extra-virgin olive oil, slices of garlic, a bit of salt, and FRESH sweet basil leaves that have been cut into thin slices.  Repeat until the container is full and marinate in the refrigerator for a few days.  If you want to freeze them, do so after a few days of marinating in the frige, and then freeze.  That's it!

I defrost these in Dec/Jan/Feb and put them between slices of home-made Foccacia bread, fresh mozzarella and a glass of red wine, and I'm in heaven.