Peppers de Padron

While to many American’s Spain seems deeply exotic (or it does to my friends), people in the UK suffer from ‘neighbour fatigue’.   Indeed, we live close enough and so many package holidays go there that it just doesn’t seem really different and it serves loads of fast food so why bother?

Well, I got to Canyamel each year which is at the top of the Island of Majorca – very un-touristy and utterly glorious.  Hot, relaxed and with the sound of the cicadas, nothing beats a cold tin of San Miguel on the terrace.   And the food on the island is utterly remarkable if you avoid the tourist traps so I will be wandering through the food heritage of this Island over my next few blog posts.

Let start with Peppers de Padron which are small green peppers that are deep friend and then sprinkled with salt.  Utterly yummy with a glorious Russian roulette effect as one in five (or so they say) is hot while the rest of them are sweet and just tasty.    Apparently a Franciscan Monk brought them to Spain from Mexico in the 17th century and they have been part of Spanish cuisine since.

They are not hard to make but it can be difficult to get hold of them so have a look online for seeds or in some farmers markets in the UK

First, wash the peppers (about 500g) and dry thoroughly.   Then heat a frying pan with olive oil (enough to shallow rather than deep fry) and pop batches of the peppers in.   They should just be blistering and developing colour when they are removed as if they are overcooked they are not nice at all.

Put onto kitchen paper to drain off and then sprinkle with rock salt before serving as a canape (ideally warm). 

Lxx

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