Shishito Peppers with Goat Cheese Yogurt Dipping Sauce
Let me open with a bit of important information - shishito peppers and piquillos de padròn are not the same thing, turns out. Frieda’s Specialty Produce has the same question that I did and she did a bit of research and called her “chile pepper buyer” this is the kind of person I don’t have access to so I’m going to take her word for it.
Frieda says that shishitos are longer and thinner and piquillos de padròn are more likely to be spicy - “Shishitos are not usually hot—you may find 1 in 10 that is medium-spicy. Padróns are also mild with slightly more chance of being spicy—2 in 10.” This pretty much blew my mind.
Anyway, I always buy shishito peppers Trader Joe’s and they almost always have them. If you’re in the market for piquillos de padròn, you can usually buy them frozen at Spanish markets.
I like them as a party trick. They’re mega easy to cook, treat them like you would a normal pepper and just throw them on the grill, maybe with a light brush of olive oil. Wait for them to blister and then sprinkle with salt and eat them hot off the grill.
I paired it with this sweet and tangy goat cheese sauce to cool it down for those spicy mouth-on-fire moments that are, apparently, 1 in 10.
shishito peppers
5.3 oz greek yogurt container, plain
5 oz goat cheese
2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp honey
marcona almonds, just a few
lemon
flaky salt
a warning that this will yield a lot of sauce, feel free to use half of the recipe if you’re making just one pack of the shishito peppers. you can serve this with any grilled vegetables and it will definitely keep over a night or two
mix together the goat cheese, yogurt, honey, salt and onion powder in a blender
grill the shishito peppers. Or, like I did here, throw them on a cast iron skillet and let your house inevitably fill with smoke
smash a few marcona almonds in a ziplock bag to avoid a mess when you pulverize them. no need to take out the food processor for this
top the peppers with flaky salt and serve with a lemon to squeeze if you’d like