Certainly the easiest way to cook Padrons, especially if you are grilling already, and you happen to have a spritz bottle for your oil. Keep an eye on these as they go quickly. When I first made these, I only did a few, figuring the kids wouldn’t care for them. Wrong! By the time I cleaned the grill and sat down, they had eaten most of them. Fortunately, it didn’t take long to grill up some more for myself.
INGREDIENTS:
Padron peppers-as many as you wish
Olive oil-just enough to lightly coat the peppers
Coarse salt such as Maldon, Murray River, Fleur de Sel, Diamond Crystal-just enough to lightly dust the cooked peppers
METHOD:
Fire up the grill and get it hot.
If you do not have an atomizer for oil, lightly coat the peppers with oil by putting them into a large bowl and drizzling a tiny bit of oil over the peppers. Use your fingers to coat the peppers by rubbing and lightly tossing the peppers. If you have an atomizer, wait until the peppers are skewered, and then hold the skewers over the sink or the cold grill and mist them with oil.
Skewer the peppers so they are snug, but not crowded.
If spritzing the peppers with the oil, do so now.
Grill the peppers over medium-high heat until blistered and charred in places. Turn over and repeat. Cook enough to eliminate the raw taste, but don’t worry about getting the entire pepper. Some texture variation is a good thing.
Sprinkle with salt, and eat.
Chef’s Notes and Tips:
Although not usually a fan of gadgets, there are a couple that have worked their way into my heart, an atomizer for oil is one of them. Mine is made of a dense hard plastic and has a button on the top that you use to pump up the pressure like a non-aerosol hair product, and if you push fast and hard you get a mist, and slow and steady yields a stream. The mist is perfect for a light coat of oil before grilling. This is a great way to oil things that you do not want to soak up tons of oil like eggplant and summer squashes. I also like it for when I am cooking potatoes or frying rice. It provides a nice, even, light, coating that is just right to lubricate and not inundate. Regarding grilling and skewers, I use flat metal skewers, (which I recommend to anyone who grills a fair amount), but if you do not have these, soak bamboo skewers an hour before use so they don’t burn up. Use two skewers side-by-side per each set of peppers so they don’t spin on the skewers. This holds true for any vegetables on the grill if you want them to cook evenly and you don’t want to worry about getting all sides. Look for the metal skewers at flea markets and thrift stores. I find the older ones are better made than the new ones, unless you but the expensive ones.
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