Blistered Shishito Peppers with Lemon and Sumac
Pimientos de padron, the small green peppers blistered in oil and showered with flaky salt, are the tapa that started a thousand bar orders across Spain and the wider Mediterranean. Shishitos, easier to find in most markets, behave exactly the same way and carry the same gentle roulette: most are mild and sweet, with the occasional fiery one. You do not need the oil. A cast-iron pan taken to a high heat blisters and chars the skins dry, caramelizing their sugars, and a hot toss with lemon, sumac, and smoked paprika replaces the salt with acid and smoke. It comes together in the time it takes to heat the pan, which makes it the fastest thing on this site and a good answer to a summer craving for something charred.
Ingredients
- 8 oz Shishito, whole, stems on
- 1 Lemon, zested, then juiced
- 1 tsp Sumac
- 1/4 tsp Smoked paprika
- 1 clove Garlic, grated
Method
- Heat a cast-iron or heavy steel pan over high heat until a drop of water skitters and vanishes on contact, a good 3 minutes. A pan hot enough to blister without oil is the whole technique here, so do not rush the preheat.
- Add the dry peppers in a single layer and leave them alone for a minute or two until the undersides char and blister into black spots. Move them once, then let the other side blister. Crowding or fussing steams them instead of charring them, so give them room and let the pan do the work.
- Cook until the peppers are blistered all over and the flesh has gone soft, 6 to 8 minutes total. They should collapse a little and smell sweet and smoky, which is the sugars in the skin caramelizing against the bare metal.
- Tip the hot peppers into a bowl and toss at once with the grated garlic, lemon juice, sumac, and smoked paprika. Dressing them while they are blistering hot lets them drink in the lemon and grip the spice, the way salt and flaky oil would in the original.
- Finish with the lemon zest and eat them warm, straight from the bowl, holding them by the stems. Sumac brings a tart, almost cranberry sharpness that carries the dish without salt. One pepper in ten or so runs hot, which is half the fun.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 45 calories, 2 g protein, 3 g fiber, 5 mg sodium. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement. How these are computed.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt. How this is computed.
