Sautéed Japanese shishitos make for a delicious and rather interesting appetizer — and the best part is, they are ridiculously easy to prepare. The Spanish Padrón peppers can be cooked the same way, but they can be a bit hotter.
Steps
1
Sautéing the Peppers
Ingredients
2 pints (4 cups) shishito or Padrón peppers*
1 to 2 tbsp olive oil
sea salt (such as fleur de sel), to taste
1/2 a fresh lemon
To start, heat a wide sauté pan (preferably cast iron) over medium to medium-high heat. The wider surface area allows the peppers to come into direct contact with the hot pan. Once the pan is good and hot, but not smoking, add the oil, followed by the peppers.
Tossing the peppers frequently until the skins are nicely blistered — a bit of charring in a few spots is normal. The whole process should only take about 6 to 10 minutes.
Once the peppers are nicely colored, toss with some nice salt and add a good squeeze of fresh lemon juice.
Serve the peppers immediately. To eat the peppers, pick them up by the stem end and eat the whole thing, minus the stem.
*Note: Padrón Peppers are like roulette — only a few are spicy hot and the rest have little to no heat.
2
Additional Flavorings
When it comes to additional flavorings, feel free to experiment — just keep in mind that this is a simple dish, so don't get too carried away.
Some combinations that work particularly well are smoked paprika and the Padrón peppers.
And for the shishito peppers, sauté them with toasted sesame oil, instead of olive oil and then finish them with togarashi.
