Every year I spent two weeks in San Diego visiting my sister.  We try to have a theme (what can I say—two geeks are we) visiting missions, botanical gardens, taking cooking classes or touring museums. Anyhow the past couple of years we have been trying new craft beer breweries, of which San Diego has hundreds. We’ve had some really good beers. Most of them offer tasting menus to you spend a little and taste a lot.

The other thing we like to do is go to farmers’ markets and the market in Little Italy downtown San Diego is one of the best.  I can’t believe someone wouldn’t find whatever they were looking for—known or not known—there. 

It’s also a great place to wander and listen to music, try new items like the sea urchin or just sample products from booths while overlooking San Diego harbor.

I know shishito peppers are getting a lot of attention this year. These small, thin skinned Asian peppers are small and mild flavored. At the farmers’ market, I filled a brown paper sleeve with at least 50 of the peppers (all for $10), then stored them in my sister’s fridge until it was time to leave. The day I left, I packed up my suitcase, left behind some shoes and gently placed my sleeve of peppers in and the curry leaves I picked up at an Asian market.  Perfect.

I found the best recipe for charring these puppies over high heat and then just flavoring with salt. 

They. Are. Addicting! 

Here are my peppers. I heated a sauté pan with a tablespoon or two of olive oil (sesame oil would be good too).  When the pan was scorching hot, I tossed in the peppers, turning them so each side was charred. In about five minutes, they were done and sprinkled with coarse sea salt.  YUM! They are great warm and still good chilled.  Great for an hors d’hoeuvres. My husband cut some up to put in a frittata—still good.  Nippled on some straight from the fridge—still good. I was going to freeze some but we ate them all before I had a chance.

In our small town, I haven’t found any of these peppers so I’m ordering some seeds and will start them indoors and transplant when the time is right. I’ll let you know how they turn out.