Hungry in Berlin

Here’s Hungry’s discovery of the week. While browsing through Mitte Meer and Aqui Espana last weekend (both on Kant Str., though Mitte Meer also has a store behind the Hamburger Bahnhof Museum), we came across bags full of little green peppers that looked and smelled (a bit) like jalapenos. Because we will happily sell our bodies and/or organs for good Mexican food, we got excited, and asked about them, and were told they weren’t jalapenos at all, but Padróns.

We took them home, and researched. Turns out they are the eponymous specialty of the Padrón region in Spain. One eats them lightly fried, in olive oil, sprinkled with a bit of sea salt. There’s a bit of a game of chance with them too, as most are rich and mild, but every 1 in 10 or so is spicy hot. So, fun…

We obeyed.  A few minutes in a pan with olive oil, so their skin began to bubble and pull away. A bit of char. And then onto a plate drizzled in oil, with salt. And hell, this ranks among the best tapas I, at least, have ever tried. Rich and clean-tasting, only a bare allusion to spiciness (but just enough to make them interesting), smokey and with enough bite to keep a bit of texture despite the frying. (Peasant Glasses might deign to explain why a Spanish rose goes so well with them, too).

Other folks online have stuffed them with cheese and baked them. I personally think that’s going too far, but, you know, the world has many more things in it than my palatte has dreamed of. For lunch today we made a cold pasta salad with octopus, sundried tomatoes, blanched green beans, toasted pine nuts and a few of the roasted Padróns, and that’s going to be a keeper.

It’s a seasonal thing, so they’ll probably disappear. Don’t miss picking up a bag for yourself while they’re in town.

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