This is Not Even A Recipe: Blistered Shishito Peppers

Gotta love that cast iron!

If you read any cool hip food blog, you will see a prevalence of recipes as of late for blistered or roasted shishito peppers.  Now, I am not cool, so I had never heard of such peppers.  Jalapenos, yes.  Shishito, no.  Are they hotter or sweeter than jalapeno?  Would it be like a bell pepper?  Or like an Ortega chili?  I had no idea.  I was intimidated.

But enter Trader Joe's.  When such items appear at Trader Joe's at their cheap and cheerful price point, it makes trying intimidating stuff super easy.  So, I saw the bag of shishito peppers in their produce section, and figured even if it was a failure, I'd be out about three bucks.  And besides, as usual on a Friday night, I was starving after my ballet class which ends a bit before nine.  So, basically everything in the store looked great.  I spent a lot.

When we got home, I heated up the cast iron pan and while waiting for it to heat, I slowly rinsed off the shishito peppers and threw them into the hot pan (this is the only prep--no slicing, ribbing, or anything else).  I let them go (POP POP) for a minute or two before pouring in a couple glugs of olive oil.  I tossed and turned the peppers over so that both sides or all sides got those pretty blisters you see above. 

Since this was an experiment, I will say a couple tips:

• When the peppers are done cooking, immediately remove them from the hot pan to retain their freshness and crispness.  Otherwise, you'll get basically roasted peppers, which is not bad, but not what we're looking for.
• When you have the peppers in said serving bowl, toss in some salt and mix...  That's all you need.

So, that's it.  Peppers and salt.  The bag was maybe half a pound?  I ate the WHOLE DAMN THING.  My brother "helped" by eating like two or three.  I ate the rest.  Low calorie snack, full of vitamins?  Not bad.

Oh and one more little tip:  The bag warned that "one in ten" peppers carries a "spicy kick."  They are not kidding.  Nine in ten are super flavorful and wonderful, a certain taste I can't describe except to say it's like a yummier than usual Ortega chili.  But that one in ten makes your face go numb.  You've been warned!  But don't let it stop you from this pepper adventure.