Pimientos de Padrón (Spanish Tapas)

My Italian Padron pepper sub- not sure what they are but they taste just as good.  :)  5/5/2015  Tapas night!  (Below)

I absolutely love these little guys.  I lived in southern Spain as a young adolescent and then teenager, and these little green gems were popular in the restaurants there- either as a tapa (appetizer) or as a side to your meal.  One of my fave meals was a garlicky pan-grilled bluefish with a bunch of these fried Pimientos. 

I was SO excited last week when I went to the local Portuguese grocery store and noticed packages of fresh "pimento padrão"!!  (How to say it in Portuguese, obviosly, lol.)  I knew it is hard to find these outside of Spain, so I bought a package right away.  (Should have bought two!)

I knew right then that our fam was going to have a Spanish Tapas night, so I went around the store collecting green olives, Spanish cheeses (including Manchego), and Maria cookies.  (Lol!  Maria cookies always make me chuckle a bit, for some reason). 

A few days later when we had our Tapas night, besides the foods mentioned above, we had fresh strawberries, non-alcoholic Sangria (recipe later), and another favorite of mine- Spanish Tortilla.  (A very traditional egg & potato dish).  You can see a slice of it in the very first photo on this post, behind the Pimientos. 

Spanish Tapas night was extemely popular with the whole family!  I can't wait to do it again.  :)  Next time I'm going to try making both marinated olives and marinated Spanish cheeses.  Maybe some other fun things, too. 

Every website I've seen mentions something like 1 in 6 peppers is insanely hot/spicy, but I have NEVER had a hot one, and I've eaten lots!  They are always so mild.

Pimientos de Padrón
adapted from Other Spain

Olive Oil (use Spanish olive oil!)
Fresh Pimientos de Padrón
Sea Salt or Kosher Salt

1.  Wash the peppers and dry them thoroughly.  In a large skillet, heat olive oil over a medium flame. (We used about 2 Tablespoons oil at first, but used quite a bit more the last time we made these.  Better results with more oil.)

2.  Add peppers and fry, stirring well, until they blister and begin to turn brown-2 to 3 min.  (May turn white in spots).

3.  Remove the peppers and pat them dry on a sheet of paper towel.  They will "deflate" a bit after being removed from the heat.  Sprinkle with salt, to taste.

Note: Normally the peppers are cooked with their stems, but the stems (and seeds) are not eaten.

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