Inspiration Ingredient: Padron Peppers aka Pimientos de Padron
An odd inspiration if you continue reading and see what the actual dish ended up being - however, it was the true inspiration! While in Spain my boss turned me on to "pimientos de padron" a tapas dish that I had surprisingly never tried while living over there. They were, however, FABULOUS. I knew that I'd be able to make it since it was essentially peppers cooked in oil and sprinkled with salt. Easy. The catch with recreating this dish is the difficulty in finding the main ingredient, the peppers! You can't use just a simple jalapeno - no, these padron peppers are unique and essential to the dish. To my surprise, I found some at our local farmer's market and instantly picked them up and was ready to create a delicious meal to go with these peppers.
I think subconsciously I have been on an extreme squid salad kick so I naturally went this direction in creating the padron pepper compliment. I wanted something substantial but not too heavy. I went through a bunch of authentic Spanish recipes and then decided that squid was the direction that I wanted to go. This recipe contained a pepper vinaigrette so that would be the tie-in between the two dishes.
It was a Bobby Flay so I knew Derek wouldn't oppose.
I'll begin with the simple recipe for the Pimientos de Padron. I've pretty much alread explained it.
Padron Peppers (or you could use the Japanese alternative, Shishito Peppers)
EVOO to coat a pan
Sea Salt (the coarse stuff)
Head the EVOO in the pan. Once hot, add the peppers and cook for about 4-5 minutes until the skins are blistered and they become tender. Make sure to keep "shaking" the pan while you are cooking them to make sure the peppers are being evenly cooked.
Remove from the pan and put on a paper towel. Pat off any excess oil. Sprinkle generously with sea salt and serve immediately!
Just as I had remembered! This would be a real crowd pleaser for a tapas-style dinner or get-together. Or simply, if you have a few friends over and are having a beer, instead of pulling out the potato chips, why not whip some peppers up - it's much better and impressive!
Now for the rest of the meal:
Grilled Squid and Sweet Onion Salad with Roasted Tomatoes and Green Chile Vinaigrette
Recipe courtesy Bobby Flay, adapted for Katie & Derek
The original recipe said that it served 8 - we did about half of the recipe and it served two very large portions...what you see below is the original recipe with my modifications in italics.
Ingredients
Roasted Tomatoes:
•8 plum tomatoes, halved (2 heirloom tomatoes - 1 yellow, 1 red, cut into thirds)
•2 tablespoons pure olive oil (we used the misto to spray the EVOO)
•Salt and pepper
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Rub (or spray!) the tomatoes with the olive oil and place on a baking sheet. Roast for 25 to 30 minutes, or until soft. Remove seeds and dice. (we left them whole)
Squid:
•16 whole squid, cleaned (1 lb total - so about 8 squid or so)
•Olive oil
•Salt and pepper
•2 large sweet onions, (Walla Walla, Vidalia), peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick (we did about 1/2 in. thick which leads to longer grilling time - used 1 onion)
Preheat grill or grill pan. Brush squid with olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Grill the squid for 3 minutes on each side. Cut into 2-inch pieces. Brush the onions with olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Grill for 3 to 4 minutes (or longer) on each side until almost tender.
Green Chile Vinaigrette:
•1 poblano pepper, roasted, peeled, seeded and chopped (used about 3/4 pasilla pepper)
•6 cloves roasted garlic (used about 4 cloves - roasted along with the tomatoes)
•1/2 cup red wine vinegar (1/4 cup)
•3/4 cup pure olive oil (1/4 cup)
1 tablespoon honey (1.5 tsp)
•Salt and pepper
Place pepper, garlic and vinegar in a blender and blend until smooth. With the motor running, slowly add the olive oil until emulsified. Add the honey and season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Assembly:
1 pound mixed arugula, frisee, green leaf lettuce
Grilled Squid
Grilled Onions
Green Chile Vinaigrette
Roasted tomatoes
12 fresh mint leaves (used more), chiffonade
Combine the greens, squid and onions in a large bowl and toss with some of the vinaigrette (we omitted this step and just drizzled the dressing once assembled). Place on a large platter and top with the tomatoes (we put this as a base layer for the squid) and fresh mint. Drizzle with additional dressing.
This was filling!! Maybe the serving size WAS correct. I felt good eating it but it was deceivingly filling! The roasted tomatoes and grilled onions were, surprisingly, my favorite part. The squid was great, don't get me wrong, but there was so much flavor in the onion and tomato that they really became the perfect compliments, if not stars of the dish. Derek was pleased, I was as well. The only change that we both agreed on (besides the large serving size) would be to throw in a bit of roasted jalapeno into the dressing to spice it up a bit. The pasilla pepper was tasty but the dish could have used a bit of an extra kick.
An odd inspiration if you continue reading and see what the actual dish ended up being - however, it was the true inspiration! While in Spain my boss turned me on to "pimientos de padron" a tapas dish that I had surprisingly never tried while living over there. They were, however, FABULOUS. I knew that I'd be able to make it since it was essentially peppers cooked in oil and sprinkled with salt. Easy. The catch with recreating this dish is the difficulty in finding the main ingredient, the peppers! You can't use just a simple jalapeno - no, these padron peppers are unique and essential to the dish. To my surprise, I found some at our local farmer's market and instantly picked them up and was ready to create a delicious meal to go with these peppers.
I think subconsciously I have been on an extreme squid salad kick so I naturally went this direction in creating the padron pepper compliment. I wanted something substantial but not too heavy. I went through a bunch of authentic Spanish recipes and then decided that squid was the direction that I wanted to go. This recipe contained a pepper vinaigrette so that would be the tie-in between the two dishes.
It was a Bobby Flay so I knew Derek wouldn't oppose.
I'll begin with the simple recipe for the Pimientos de Padron. I've pretty much alread explained it.
Padron Peppers (or you could use the Japanese alternative, Shishito Peppers)
EVOO to coat a pan
Sea Salt (the coarse stuff)
Head the EVOO in the pan. Once hot, add the peppers and cook for about 4-5 minutes until the skins are blistered and they become tender. Make sure to keep "shaking" the pan while you are cooking them to make sure the peppers are being evenly cooked.
Remove from the pan and put on a paper towel. Pat off any excess oil. Sprinkle generously with sea salt and serve immediately!
Just as I had remembered! This would be a real crowd pleaser for a tapas-style dinner or get-together. Or simply, if you have a few friends over and are having a beer, instead of pulling out the potato chips, why not whip some peppers up - it's much better and impressive!
Now for the rest of the meal:
Grilled Squid and Sweet Onion Salad with Roasted Tomatoes and Green Chile Vinaigrette
Recipe courtesy Bobby Flay, adapted for Katie & Derek
The original recipe said that it served 8 - we did about half of the recipe and it served two very large portions...what you see below is the original recipe with my modifications in italics.
Ingredients
Roasted Tomatoes:
•8 plum tomatoes, halved (2 heirloom tomatoes - 1 yellow, 1 red, cut into thirds)
•2 tablespoons pure olive oil (we used the misto to spray the EVOO)
•Salt and pepper
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Rub (or spray!) the tomatoes with the olive oil and place on a baking sheet. Roast for 25 to 30 minutes, or until soft. Remove seeds and dice. (we left them whole)
Squid:
•16 whole squid, cleaned (1 lb total - so about 8 squid or so)
•Olive oil
•Salt and pepper
•2 large sweet onions, (Walla Walla, Vidalia), peeled and sliced 1/4-inch thick (we did about 1/2 in. thick which leads to longer grilling time - used 1 onion)
Preheat grill or grill pan. Brush squid with olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Grill the squid for 3 minutes on each side. Cut into 2-inch pieces. Brush the onions with olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Grill for 3 to 4 minutes (or longer) on each side until almost tender.
Green Chile Vinaigrette:
•1 poblano pepper, roasted, peeled, seeded and chopped (used about 3/4 pasilla pepper)
•6 cloves roasted garlic (used about 4 cloves - roasted along with the tomatoes)
•1/2 cup red wine vinegar (1/4 cup)
•3/4 cup pure olive oil (1/4 cup)
1 tablespoon honey (1.5 tsp)
•Salt and pepper
Place pepper, garlic and vinegar in a blender and blend until smooth. With the motor running, slowly add the olive oil until emulsified. Add the honey and season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Assembly:
1 pound mixed arugula, frisee, green leaf lettuce
Grilled Squid
Grilled Onions
Green Chile Vinaigrette
Roasted tomatoes
12 fresh mint leaves (used more), chiffonade
Combine the greens, squid and onions in a large bowl and toss with some of the vinaigrette (we omitted this step and just drizzled the dressing once assembled). Place on a large platter and top with the tomatoes (we put this as a base layer for the squid) and fresh mint. Drizzle with additional dressing.
This was filling!! Maybe the serving size WAS correct. I felt good eating it but it was deceivingly filling! The roasted tomatoes and grilled onions were, surprisingly, my favorite part. The squid was great, don't get me wrong, but there was so much flavor in the onion and tomato that they really became the perfect compliments, if not stars of the dish. Derek was pleased, I was as well. The only change that we both agreed on (besides the large serving size) would be to throw in a bit of roasted jalapeno into the dressing to spice it up a bit. The pasilla pepper was tasty but the dish could have used a bit of an extra kick.
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