Fried Chili Peppers

Every summer we get loads and loads of peppers from our CSA. The bell peppers are easy to use. The chile peppers I struggle with. They're so beautiful, I lug them all home, sort them by size (and spiciness) and put them in the crisper drawer. They accumulate there until I am forced to through out a bag of rotten chiles. It's rather sad.

This year, I am doing better for a couple of reasons. 1) I am roasting chiles a lot and adding them to hamburgers, pizzas, and anything else I can think of that they might be good one. 2) This recipe.

Granted, it's still a little bit of a game of roulette when I use the chiles. Curtis and I do the "you taste it to see if it's hot before I do" game. Sometimes it works out great for us. Other times we run into some spicy chiles. The ones we used the first time we made this were spicy. However they were so incredibly good we kept eating them even though our mouths were so hot the back of our throats burned. We kept eating them anyway. Chiles this way are just that good. Molly Wizenberg (of Orangette blog fame who also writes for Bon Appetit) suggested using shishito peppers or Padron chiles (or long, skinny, green chiles in general). I just picked a couple skinny chiles from my spicy chile bag and it worked fine.

This makes 4 servings if use 8 oz of chiles. I just used 4 chiles and adjusted the seasonings a little.

Fried Chile Peppers
adapted slightly from Bon Appetit

1/4 c vegetable oil
8 oz chiles (shishito or Padron are recommended, any long, skinny, not terrible spicy chile will do), whole
1/4 t coarse sea salt plus additional for serving
2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 t fresh lemon juice

Heat heavy large skillet over high heat. Add vegetable oil and swirl coat. Heat until oil is very hot (but not smoking). Add the whole chiles and 1/4 t salt. Stir constantly until chiles are blistered over half their surface, about 2 minutes. Add garlic and continue to cook, stirring constantly until chiles are completely blistered. Transfer to a paper towel to briefly drain, the place in serving bowl. Sprinkle with lemon juice and extra sea salt. Toss to coat and serve.