I have a drop dead obsession with shishito peppers and it has been going on for quite some time. If Pete and I are out at a restaurant and they are on the menu, we get them no questions asked, and Pete knows better than to get in my way. I take them all down, no question. I don’t why, but they are just my favorite.
If you guys are regular readers, do you remember when I ate that nuclear pepper out of my moms garden this last summer? I thought it was going to be like a shishito pepper. I dreamed of it, right up until it destroyed me and I spent 10 minutes wishing I was dead from the pain… (lesson is: don’t eat peppers that you don’t know the spice level of.)
And now, with winter, I have had a sad hiatus from my favorite little snack until recently. When I went to Chicago a few weeks ago I had an amazing dinner at The Girl and the Goat. They were beyond accommodating for all of my food allergies, and it was one of the best meals I have had in the last year. One of the dishes they brought out were shishitos in a sesame sauce. Everyone else in the party had cheese and breadcrumbs in their dish, but they made mine vegan. No one else wanted the vegan dish, so I got them to myself- which was to my great pleasure by the way. I was with a group and desperately not wanting to immediately show them what a piggie I am, but then I couldn’t help myself and I went ahead and finished off the whole “family style” dish by myself. I looked super elegant with 75 little pepper stems lined up on the side of my plate. But whatever- they were so good.
And then a few days after I got back from Chicago we went to a dinner party at a friends house and he had made an amazing shishito pepper dish. I knew I had to make some asap, but I was kind of dragging my feet on having to drive all the way to the Asian grocer to get them. And then something magical happened. I was innocently browsing at Trader Joes when I laid eyes on the little gems. TJ’s is selling shishito peppers. So within an hour of being there, this rip off dish from the girl and the goat was happening and I could barely bother to take pictures before I downed the whole plate. All of them. Oink, oink.
Recipe: Blistered Shishito Peppers with Sesame Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons tahini
- 2 tablespoons hot water
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tablespoon agave
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons sesame oil
- Kosher salt
- 12 ounces shishito peppers
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- kosher salt
- toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- In the jar of a blender add the sesame sauce ingredients except for the salt. Puree on high until you have a smooth sauce. Season to taste with kosher salt and set aside.
- Get a heavy pan or skillet blistering, smoking hot.
- Add the oil and then the peppers and cook them, stirring often for about 2 minutes until they are blistered and slightly charred as well as softened. Sprinkle them with kosher salt to taste.
- Transfer them to a serving bowl or platter and drizzle with a few spoonfuls of the sauce and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve immediately.
Preparation time: 5 minute(s)
Cooking time: 2 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 2
Print Recipe
I love blistered peppers and that sesame sauce sounds unreal!
They are the best! Thanks Laura!
I would have eaten them all also! Your version looks fantastic!
Thanks G!
Yah, I need this whole plate! Delicious!
You would seriously eat them all JennY!
I’m with you on the shishito pepper obsession!! These look amazing!
I have been wanting to try shishito peppers but alas I cannot find them here… They look amazing in that sauce!
oh kevin- you will love them! Try an Asian grocer? Or special order them t your grocery store maybe?
I grew them. I couldn’t find them either. I found small plants at Home Depot and they grow extremely fast and produced a ton of peppers from just a few plants.
Now what do I do with the rest of the tahini now that I’ve only used such a small amount for this?
Use it for salad dressing! or a sauce with fish or chicken.
Again with the tahini. Seriously, tahini is the secret ingredient to awesomeness. Always (almost)! Am definitely going to try this, and am positive my husband and I will oink oink these down, too.
I know Sharon- I am fairly obsessed with tahini lately (as if you can’t tell!!) and it makes the best sauces and dressings!
This sauce sounds fantastic! I’ve always had shisito peppers with salt and nothing else, so I’m intrigued by the idea of dipping them… 🙂
oh yes! They are great by themselves Eileen, but the little but of tahini is awesome!
I read on your blog a couple of weeks ago that you had dinner at a friends house and he had made a shishito dish. My ears popped up and my eyes opened wide! I love shishito peppers. I know you live somewhere around Seattle. I got on the phone to Whole Foods Product Department. No, they did not have them, but the man said, ‘You should try Uwajimaya.’ Of course I should! And I did! And there the little darling were in all their glory! I bought two pounds and was very, very happy! I just stir fry them with garlic. I will try your recipe post haste!!
YES! Uwajimaya is where I had been meaning to go and then TJ’s swooped in and made it easy- but I bet they are fresher at Uwajimayas. I love them stir fried with garlic, oil and salt- delicious!!
How fun! I love this recipe and such beautiful photo’s!
Thank you Maria!
I’ve never had them but I found them at TJ’s today and I’m pumped to try them!
Yay! Bri! You will be hooked!!
I have just tried my first shishito pepper just a few weeks ago – and I’m hooked. And shishito peppers from Girl and the Goat would be DIVINE! Just as I’m sure are, too!
I know!! I am beyond obsessed Megan!
I remember reading on the Trader Joe’s website that every so often, one of these peppers will actually be super-spicy. So maybe that was a shishito pepper that you had after all?