P-p-p-pick up a pimiento de padrón

I loved overhearing conversations about food in Spain. From grannies on the bus, meticulously noting recipes, to barmen boasting the best tortilla, it felt like everyone was at it. In Galicia, the conversation dominator is pimentos de padrón. So much so, it’s one of the region’s top ten topics of discussion. As we Brits enjoy speculating about the weather, the Gallegos relish in sharing theories as to why uns pican e outros non (why some are hot and others not). You see, eating a plate of pimientos de padrón, is a game of gastronomic Russian Roulette. There’s one little pepper hiding amongst the others, that will knock your socks off. It’s near impossible to know which. Grown in Herbón, a tiny village in Padrón, A Coruña, Galicia, these little bright green peppers are delicious and dangerous. Roughly ten percent of each crop will be extremely hot, whilst the others delectably mild. Theories bandied about by my Galician friends, guess that it’s the smaller ones that burn, or those with thicker skins. My friend Xián’s mother (who grows her own in Galicia), believes if you don’t honour them with sufficient care and attention, they will become spicy in spite. I can just about see some logic in her notion of chili karma.

The beauty of these little gems, lies in their easiness to prepare and interesting flavour. Simply get a pan nice and hot, pour in a generous splash of olive oil and cook the peppers until the skins blister and blacken. My advice is not to move them around so much, give them time to get a good bit of heat. Once ready, let them have a rest on some kitchen paper, then liberally sprinkle with rock salt. And that’s it. They are ready to be eaten with fingers, using the stalk to guide them to your mouth. They have a slightly nutty flavour with an enjoyable bitterness. They can stand alone as a tapas dish, but work marvelously well on the side of tortilla de patata. My friend Juan’s wife serves them with a fried egg sunny side up, so you can dip them in the yolk. However, my favourite way to eat them is with my aunt, watching her scream, as every time she picks the head-blowingly-hot one.