Thanks to my daughter for turning us on to Blistered Shishito Peppers – a simple, fast, delicious and fun appetizer.
The Shishito is mild pepper brought to the US from Japan and now widely available here in the United States. We got ours from Trader Joes, but you can easily grow them in your home garden.
The Shishito pepper likely came to Japan from Spain, where it is called a Padron pepper and is much hotter. It is believed to have mellowed after generations of selective breeding in Japanese soil.
The fastest and most fun way to get to know Shishito is to toss them in a little olive oil,
blister them in a cast iron skillet on the stove top
toss with lime and salt and eat ’em while they’re hot !
Despite its mild Scoville score of 50-200, it’s said that every batch of Shishitos will have at least one really hot pepper. Ours had more than a few hotties. Not that we complained. We like it hot!
Once you’ve mastered the blistered Shishito, don’t stop there. There are many ways to serve these bites of delight beyond just scarfing them down as they come out of the skillet. You can make a Shishito Salsa and serve it with steak. Or serve the blistered peppers atop a Corn and Japanese Curry or with charred cauliflower in a picada sauce. Or simply serve them with a dipping sauce.
As for me, next time I make blistered Shishito peppers I plan to double down on the Japanese – I’ll cook them in sesame oil and toss them with furikake and lime.
Blistered Shishito Peppers
Ingredients
- 6 ounces Shishito Peppers
- 1 scant tbsp olive oil
- Sea salt Or finishing salt such as Maldon
- 1/2 lime, cut into wedges
Instructions
- Rinse peppers then dry them well. Toss with just enough olive oil to coat, without any excess.
- Heat cast iron skillet on med high heat till hot enough that a drop of water tossed into the pan bounces, sizzles and evaporates. Add peppers, distributing them evenly on the pan. Allow them to sit a few minutes to start to char, then begin turning them one by one so they char evenly on all sides. As they heat up, the peppers will expand and pop. This can be a little scary and cause burns, so avoid the popping by piercing the peppers with a tooth pick or tip of a sharp paring knife as they expand. As they become charred, they will loosen and shrivel down a bit, but should still retain their bright green color in non-charred spots. Remove them one by one as they become perfectly charred and place in serving bowl. The smaller peppers will cook and blister faster than the larger ones.
- Toss with salt to taste. Serve warm with lime wedges.
