• At eating/sf, the food blog with a soundtrack, Kasey Fleisher Hickey waxes all I remember about grilled padrón peppers:
I can't recall the first time I tasted them, but if it wasn't in Europe, it was at a restaurant in San Francisco. When they came to the table, I'd be surprised if I didn't eat them all. Because they are that good. Not too spicy (though once in a while, you can get an angry one in the mix), smoky, salty, slightly-greasy.Of course, what gives eating/sf a twist beyond mere nostalgia are the musical recommendation by Hickey's husband, Matthew (he blogs at Musical Pairings). And what goes with grilled padrón peppers? Why, the Miniature Tigers' Fortress album, of course ("like distilling the music and feeling from a Wes Anderson film").
• Meanwhile, Marc R. aka Mental Masala works without a net.
The latest in the Ethicurean's "Cooking Outside the Zone" challenge (you force yourself to cook stuff far more puzzling than broccoli, a nod to National Farmers Market Week, which ended Aug. 7 but whatever), Marc R. works out a formula for agretti, paired with fregola, which together sound inedibly spiky. Agretti are spindly greens, also known as glasswort, while fregola are gravel-shaped Sardinian pasta. Marc R.'s solution: a greens-strewn pasta called Twigs and Pebbles. On second thought, maybe they are a tad scratchy on the throat. Plan to lubricate with a lovely Chianti Classico.Follow us on Twitter: @SFoodie. Contact me at John.Birdsall@SFWeekly.com
