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Roasted Pepper Crostini

Toss orange bell peppers with olive oil, salt and pepper. Broil or grill, turning occasionally, until charred all over. Let cool, then peel off charred skin. Remove seeds and cut into strips.

Spread goat cheese on crostini and top with pepper strips. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with flake salt.

AVAILABILITY

Most bell peppers are available all year, but they are at their sweetest—and most abundant—during summer.

SELECTING

Buy firm, smooth, brightly colored peppers. Bell peppers may be green, red, yellow, orange, brown or purple. Green peppers are usually sharper in flavor, more plentiful and less expensive than peppers of other colors. They are immature and do not ripen once picked. Red bell peppers are simply at a more mature (and sweeter) stage than green bell peppers. The other colors are separate varieties of peppers.

PREPARING

Cut the pepper in half at the equator or lengthwise. Using your hands or a knife, remove the stem. Then trim away the seeds and white membranes and cut the pepper to the desired size and shape.

STORING

Refrigerate the peppers as soon as you get them home, storing them loosely in a perforated plastic bag. Green peppers keep for at least 1 week; use red, yellow, orange and purple peppers within 5 or 6 days.