Sometimes quick and dirty is better.
I’m hosting two get togethers in the next three days. One of the hardest parts of putting a menu together for holiday parties is balancing the work load with enjoying myself. I could stay in the kitchen all night and cook, but that sort of defeats the whole idea of relaxing with my friends. After years of over cooking for Christmas, this year I’ve decided to scale things back. Instead of a lot of fussy work and long elaborate recipes, I’m trying some simple but interesting appetizers.
My friend, Liz brought in a ten pound crate of Shishito Peppers for her holiday caterings and asked if I wanted to try some. She told me to throw them in a really hot cast iron skillet with a little olive oil and blister the @#** out of them. So I did.
Once they were blackened on all sides, I poured them on a serving platter, doused them with really good fleur de sel and they were ready to go.They vanished in milliseconds.
I’ve spent hours working on laborious dishes that didn’t disappear as fast as those peppers.
BLISTERED SHISHITO PEPPERS adapted from Bon Appétit, December 2011
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 cups whole shishito peppers
- Sea salt flakes
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon dried red chili flakes
THE STEPS
- Heat oil in a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat.
- Cook peppers, turning occasionally, until they begin to blister on all sides.
- Add minced garlic and chili flakes, toss several times in hot skillet.
- Sprinkle with sea salt and serve immediately.
THE LOVE: Resist the urge to stir the peppers around. You want them to char and that can only happen if they have enough time on the hot pan.
The phone calls are coming closer together. The girls call randomly throughout the day just to gush. In eight days we’ll be together for Christmas. It makes time move like Santa in a tight chimney.
Thanks for reading.
