Simple Things are Best

I am on vacation in Spain; and when I’m on vacation I tend to really enjoy two things - well, actually I enjoy several things, but two come to mind right now - eating and writing. Hence, after a two month hiatus I have turned my attention back to my blog. Of course I’m going to have to do some self-promotion to remind people where to look because there’s got to be some statute of limitations on how long a site can stay on an RSS reader without streaming new content.

Eating in foreign countries is a great way to learn new cooking styles and develop new ideas. First, there are usually alien ingredients that if not new are at least very different from what you may be accustomed to back home. And secondly, you encounter new dishes, often ones that are very easy to replicate without a recipe. This was how I discovered my Provençal Chicken several years ago (See June 2005: Provence - the Passion and the Poulet).

One of my first discoveries after we arrived early last week was the pimientos fritos: these are small, mild green peppers (resembling a small jalapeño) that are fried in a little olive oil until their skin blisters and they soften, and then sprinkled (liberally) with sea salt.

Officially, if the term “official” can be used in connection with food, and I’m not of that school, the peppers used are Padrón Peppers. Not surprisingly, they derive their name from the area in which they are grown. . . a gold star if you answered Padrón. When picked as young peppers early in the season they are small, mild and quite sweet, and unlike a jalapeño they lack the heat that would otherwise serve as a natural regulatory control on over-indulgence. And so it was that Kim banned me for 36 hours from eating them. I had ordered these for 3 days straight after my arrival in Barcelona. And then, after finding the small green semi-decante peppers in a food market, I fried up a large plate of my own when we decided to stay in one might and take advantage of the kitchen in our apartment. Four hefty servings of anything green four days in a row will take its toll.

I’ve recently set aside a 20 foot by 5 foot section of my garden to serve as a vegetable patch and, although absent for the prime planting period, I’m hopeful that I can do a little experimenting on my return. Having grown green peppers once before, my expectation is that if planted early in July the growing period will be long enough and warm enough to allow harvesting in early September. And if I’m very lucky I will find someone in the market who will have already discovered these gems and will have kick-started a plant or two for me. And then I just have to condition Kim to the fact that everything comes with a price!