Saturday 23 July 2011

Pimientos de Padron

 Image from Gastroplod

A - ha!  Little green capsicums saturated and squelched from the heat of the pan and olive oil, so that your flesh intensifies and sweetens.  Once in the terracotta dish, I dive in with my hands, singling out a stalk and retrieve one, knowing already before it has hit my mouth how it promises to melt - first on my tongue are the coarse shards of saltiness, then the alchemy of dulcet pepper and demi-chilli flavours and it's slippery shape lends to sucking and biting off at the point of the stalk.....satisfaction.

I have been craving these more-ish Spanish peppers and by the end of the week they were mine : ) I love Spanish tapas and these are perfect appetisers with a cool drink.  Small green peppers from Padron, fried in olive oil and sprinkled with coarse salt.  Small Perfection!

For tapas in London - I liked Mar I Terra.  Not style conscious, all the effort goes into the homemade tapas - in fact you have to walk down an inconspicuous side street, next to the railway arches in Southwark.  But great for a bite after the Tate Modern or before seeing a play at the Globe.

You might like to read:  Granada
You might like to read another simple homemade suggestion: french-dressing

2 comments:

  1. Oh, the way you describe it makes my mouth water! Nice photography too!

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  2. Did you get any hot ones? As we say in Spain, "pimientos de Padrón, unos pican y otros no".
    I love them, too.

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