After holiday indulgences, it’s perhaps time to enjoy more vegetables again, like this spanish tapa (appetizer) and one of my favorite and probably the simplest preparation ever !

Over the years, I’ve focused on decreasing meat intake and I find myself always pairing their preparation with more and more vegetables or plant foods, simply because I like it. So everytime we go to Spain, we order many meatless and fishless dishes. 

One of my favorite vegetable dishes is the small fried padrón peppers (from the town of Padrón in Galicia) and another vegetable dish of smaller mixed vegetables (mini asparagus, mushrooms, carrots, etc.) that are all fried, deep-fried, grilled or braised and slightly charred and simply salted.

Different methods are often required for different cooked vegetable preparations. In the main photo, you’ll notice the peppers that are deep-fried, which I also prepared to accompany the “croquetas” recipe that I recently published  (see recipe here) and the cherry tomatoes that are “confit” or very gently oven-cooked while submerged in oil and also shallots, which are slowly oven-braised instead. Three different methods for 3 different vegetables (even though tomatoes are fruits).

This recipe couldn’t be simpler with only 3 or 4 ingredients : the little peppers, the frying oil (which could be a neutral oil like sunflower or pomace), extra virgin olive oil for drizzling after frying (which could also be your frying oil) and flaky sea salt and chopped parsley leaves.

This delightful side dish is simplicity at its best … :)