For those of you following along on my gardening escapades (all two of you), you know I’ve tried my hand at an assortment of veggies on the deck.  While I ventured into jalapenos last year – and they did well – there are only so many jalapenos one can eat solo.  Peppers, however, seem to grow well here.

Enter: shisito peppers.  I first ate them in the spring of 2011 while traveling around Spain with my dear friend Alexis.  In Barcelona, we prioritized taking in the architecture, but (naturally) also excelled at taking in some great meals, deciding against the more over-the-top foodie destinations (no foam-infusions, thanks), and opting for places where dishes were prepared simply, using fresh ingredients at the peak of their season, with minimal fanfare.

I’m pretty sure we ate shisito peppers at just about every one of these meals:  they were served charred, doused in a perfect sheen of olive oil and sprinkled with crunchy sea salt.  And as someone who loves surprises, a game of shisito roulette emerged (turns out, 1 in 10 is incredibly spicy).

Here in the city, I’ve only found these peppers in August at the Union Square Greenmarket, so I’m growing them myself, which means a much wider window of pepper-ific enjoyment.   My three plants finally produced enough to toss on the grill last night.  I went rogue and did it sans recipe and let my memory of how they tasted dictate how I cooked them.Cooking them required a quick toss in olive oil, and about 8 minutes (4 per side) on the grill.  They turned out smoky, juicy, and some Maldon Sea Salt lent a nice amount of crunch.  And yes, I got a major hot one, however I ate them so fast I never identified the little bugger.  #sabroso!