These New Potato and Padron Pepper Skewers are the perfect side dish for your next BBQ. Get the recipe below.

Barbecued vegetables

Barbecues aren't all about the meat (or meat substitutes if you're veggie or vegan). It's important to have a wide range of vegetable dishes too. Often the vegetable side dishes are salads but today I want to show you that cooking vegetables over the coals can result in delicious, smokey sides.

When cooking vegetables over a grill you achieve a similar effect to roasting them. As the heat hits them their natural sugars caramelise resulting in a richer, sweeter flavour. Of course the smoke from the coals (and wood chips if you're using them) also gives them a wonderful smokey flavour.

These New Potato and Padron Pepper Skewers are both sweet and a little spicy. I like to serve mine with a patatas bravas sauce.

Making New Potato and Padron Pepper Skewers

What are padron peppers?

Padron peppers are small, green peppers that originate from Padrón in northwest Spain.

Once they have been cooked, they are sweet and nutty. However, every once in a while you will get one that is super spicy!

Can I use something other than padron peppers?

Shishito peppers are very similar to padron peppers. Rather than coming from Spain, they come from Japan. But, they are still small in size and softened when blackened over a high heat. They are the perfect substitute if you want to avoid finding a fierce padron pepper as their flavour is even more mild and sweet.

If you're not worried about heat and would like to add some spice to the dish then Mexican Anaheim chillis are also a good substitute.

Do I have to use new potatoes?

New potatoes are my favourite potato to use for this dish as they cook quickly. You could use any other young potato or cut larger potatoes into smaller pieces before cooking.

Can I cook these without a BBQ?

Yes, these new potato and padron pepper skewers can be cooked without the use of a BBQ. My two preferred methods are cooking them in a grill pan on the hob as you still get the charred bar marks. Or, you could place them underneath a hot grill turning regularly.

The recipe