Date Night Shishito Peppers

by Shelby Spears
spears@spearsstrong

Ten years ago last month Jonathan took me on our first date. It was my first time eating sushi and I was hooked. 

But the delicious fish at Sushi Samba in downtown Chicago was not the only star of our multi-course meal that night. It was also a first for blistered shishito peppers. The tiny, sweet peppers burst with the saltiest, lime juiciest explosion. They are crazy good and addictive but after that we would only find them at restaurants and when on a special occasion.

Squeeze lime juice on the blistered peppers and watch the steam rise.

But then a couple of weeks ago a most wonderful surprised arrived in our CSA box.

A little brown bag filled with fresh, bright green shishito peppers just begging to be cooked and eaten... immediately. 

A quick Pinterest surf revealed how simple it is to make this very tasty appetizer.

Having the little peppers for an appetizer on a weekday at home made the average mid-week meal feel like a special date night.

And vegetables continue to excite. 

Shishito (date night) peppers

Clean and dry peppers. Warm a skillet to medium/high and melt 2T cooking oil (I like grapeseed oil for this but avocado oil works well too). Place in the peppers and let them sit for a few minutes, then flip. Sauté until peppers are a little soft and charred. Turn off heat and sprinkle with sea salt and lime juice.