Spanish cooking runs on peppers: fresh, roasted, dried, smoked and ground. For a long time the only way to cook with the right ones in northern Ohio was to import them in jars. Two summers ago a grower we met at the market offered to try something else.
A trial row
We brought seeds for pimientos de Padrón, the small green peppers that are blistered in oil and salted, and for a sweet red variety close to the ones roasted in northern Spain. The grower planted a trial row of each alongside their usual crops. The Padróns took to the long summer days at once. The red peppers needed a second season and a warmer corner of the field.
Most are sweet, one in a handful is hot, and you never know which. That is the game with Padróns.
What we do with them
- Padrón peppers, blistered in olive oil on the grill and finished with flaky salt.
- Red peppers, roasted whole over the embers, peeled and dressed with sherry vinegar.
- The late harvest, dried and ground into a paprika we use through the winter.
The peppers arrive in crates from late June until the first frost, and the menu follows them. When the season ends we go back to jarred peppers from Spain, which are good in their own way, but the fresh ones are a different thing.
The arrangement has grown since. The same grower now raises some of our tomatoes and a row of the long onions we char in spring. Every one of those crops started with a conversation at a market stall.