Hmm, a tapas-style treat of quickly pan-fried peppers, with the odds that 1 in 10 will be incredibly spicy? Sounds like a slam-dunk to me! I saw these guys on YumBlog a few months ago, and thanks to a tip on ChowHound discovered that the Spanish Table sometimes carries Pimientos de Padrón in the summer. A quick walk down there this week confirmed their availability, so I picked some up for a quick Friday-afternoon snack.

Lisa says:

Are these spicy?

Chris says:

According to the write-up/legend/whatever, I’ve read that anywhere from 1 in 10 to 1 in 30 is hot.

Lisa says:

With my luck, I’ll get the hot ones.

Chris says:

With my luck, I won’t!

Lisa says:

Oooh, these are good!

Chris says:

I knew you’d like them… simplicity itself! Peppers, olive oil, salt!

Lisa says:

I heart sal… whoa! Can I get some water?

Chris says:

Did you get a hot one?? Lucky!!

Lisa says:

Actually it was really hot to start, but now it’s not that bad.

Chris says:

Well, hopefully that wasn’t the only one in th… Yikes! I just got one too — that IS hot! I really want more of these. I hear that they actually grow pretty well here; I sense some seeds in our future…

Pimientos de Padrón
Pimientos de Padrón
olive oil
coarse sea salt

Take a pan and pour just enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Turn the heat up to high. When the olive oil starts to sizzle toss the peppers in whole. Lower the heat to medium-high, and shake the pan occasionally so the peppers cook evenly. When the peppers start blistering and browning, they are ready. Remove to a plate lined with paper towels to soak up some of the extra oil, then transfer to a bowl and sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Eat ‘em whole and wait for a spicy one!

We had originally planned to roast some garlic for the housewarming party last weekend, but with all the other dishes we had, we decided to skip it. We had already purchased quite a few heads of garlic, however, so having Thad and Abbie over for dinner was the perfect opportunity to go for it! Many recipes for roasted garlic involve brushing the garlic heads with olive oil, we made it by just filling a roasting pan with olive oil to coat the bottom, and placing the heads cut-side down. This allows you to serve the now roasted-garlic-infused olive oil as an additional dip. The inspiration for this method comes from this post over at Desert Candy.

Thad says:

Pretty garlicky!

Chris says:

I like that you can taste a hint of garlic and caperberries in the oil.

Abbie says:

What? Those are caperberries? They look like olives!

Chris says:

Nope, try one — they’re like ginormous capers.

Lisa says:

These rule… you don’t even need the bread. I like just sticking a fork in and eating a whole clove by itself.

Chris says:

You heart garlic!

Roasted Garlic with Caperberries
——————————–
6 heads of garlic
olive oil
caperberries
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 325F. Cut the top third off of the heads of garlic — if you’re cooking something else that night, you can save the top bits, otherwise toss ‘em. Pour oil into a small roasting pan, then place the cloves of garlic cut-side down. Add the caperberries, salt, and pepper, and cover tightly with foil. Roast for 50 minutes or until the garlic is soft and golden brown. Remove the garlic cloves to a serving dish, and pour the oil into a bowl for dipping. Serve with warm baguette and get your dip on.

Jeremy and Autumn came over for dinner one night this week — Lisa made these fresh rolls, which filled us up much more than the tiny seafood salad I made. The peanut sauce was also really, really good.

Chris says:

Yay, I love these; we haven’t made them in a while…

Lisa says:

I’m glad I made as many as I did. That dinner you made was barely enough for one, let alone four!

Autumn says:

How’d you get the tofu to not get all mushy?

Lisa says:

Apparently the trick is to roll it in a bit of flour first. It works really well!

Jeremy says:

These are tasty, thanks!

Chris says:

Um, did the four of us just eat 17 of these things?

Vietnamese Summer Rolls
———————–
12 medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
3 ounces rice noodles/sticks
4 Ounces firm tofu
1/4 cup flour
1 tbsp oil
16 round rice paper sheets
1 medium carrot, peeled and julienned
1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and julienned
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, preferably Thai
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer. Add shrimp; cook until pink and cooked through, about 2 minutes. Slice cooked shrimp in half lengthwise. Set aside. In a medium bowl, cover rice noodles with hot water by 2 inches; let soak for 15 minutes. Drain, and rinse under cold water. Set aside. Cut tofu into sticks, roll in flour and lightly fry in oil. Place on paper towel to drain.
Fill a shallow dish with warm water. Working with 1 rice-paper wrapper at a time, soak in water for 30 seconds; immediately lay flat on a work surface. Place 3 reserved shrimp halves, cut sides up, on bottom third, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Place 1 piece of tofu over shrimp. Top with 1/4 cup assortment of rice noodles, carrots, cucumbers, mint, basil, and cilantro. Fold bottom of wrapper over fillings; roll over once, tuck in sides, and finish rolling.
Place finished roll on a plate; cover with a damp paper towel. Repeat process with remaining ingredients. Serve with peanut dipping sauce.

The first dish of the day for our Thanksgiving feast was Borani, a Persian spinach and yogurt dip. This recipe comes from The Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home cookbook.

Lisa says:

This is delicious! And even better after it’s been chilled.

Chris says:

Yeah I really like this — next time we have people over I’ll have to make it again, but double the recipe. Hey, I’m thirsty.

Lisa says:

Good thing I made Sangria!

Borani
——
1 bunch fresh spinach, well rinsed, stemmed, and chopped
1 cup chopped onions
3 scallions, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp minced fresh dill
1/3 cup feta cheese
2 tbsp light plain yogurt
salt and ground pepper to taste

After rinsing the spinach, cook for a few minutes over medium heat in a covered sauce pan until wilted but still bright green. Drain the spinach and press in a colander or sieve to squeeze out the excess moisture.
Saute the onions, scallions, and garlic in the olive oil. When the onions are soft and translucent, stir in the spinach and dill and heat for about 2 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to press out any extra liquid and transfer to a bowl. Stir in the feta and yogurt and add salt and pepper to taste. Chill for at least an hour.
Serve with bread or pita.

Makes approx. 2 cups

Our friend Carrie came over for dinner tonight and we planned a nice, outdoors-because-it’s-too-hot-inside three-course feast! All the recipes come from Healthy Latin Cuisine, and tonight was the first time making them — they were all a hit!

For our appetizer, Lisa made these Plaintain “Spiders”:

Extremely easy to make, and really flavorful — shredded plantains, garlic, and ginger! We served it with some extra chimichurri sauce.

Plantain Spiders
—————-
2 large green plantains, peeled
6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced and cut into thin slivers
1 piece (1″) fresh ginger, peeled, thinly sliced and cut into thin slivers
salt and ground pepper
1 tbsp olive oil or nonstick spray

Preheat the oven to 400F. Coat a nonstick baking sheet iwth nonstick spray.
Grate each plantain on the coarse side of hand grater. Transfer to a bowl, add the garlic and ginger. Season with salt and pepper, toss to mix.
Using your fingers, shape the mixture into 1″ balls. Flatten slightly (don’t pack tightly). Arrange the flattened balls on the prepared baking sheet. Brush the balls with olive oil or coat generously with nonstick spray.
Bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown and crisp. Transfer to a platter and season with more salt and peppers, if desired.

Serves 4 (24 pieces)