IT’S THE PEAS
I love English peas or as we call them in the US, spring peas.
The craving to shuck and eat ‘em straight from the shell begins at my fav food store in earl to mid-March. In the fresh produce section, the pea bin, as I like to call it, is at this time of year, piled high with the first harvest of these fresh picked, lovely green pods each tasty nuggets packed full of nutrition and pleasure.
The craving for fresh spring peas doesn’t end with shelling and eating the first pound or two, nosirreebub, the craving lasts throughout their all too brief growing season. As the first peas are shelled and eaten it seems (to me) the season is over.
Peas are a lovely treat, not a veggie, not a fruit – as one might think, but a legume, a seed and when just picked off the vine, well, for me, the taste of the fresh pea beats the taste of the finest dark chocolate. Word to the wise, only buy those peas in pods that are a lovely shade of green, have a slight sheen to their casing and silky smooth to the touch and there within are the sweetest and most delicate. Avoid the peas whose shell is a dullish matte green the pea within is not the pea you want to munch on.
Our Nancy has whipped up three delicious spring recipes for you using spring peas shucked fresh from the pod. Here, fresh from the garden to Nancy’s kitchen to yours, buon appetito.
Charles
In Nancy’s words:
A few things come to mind when I think of fresh peas.
My father, Donald, who liked to grow peas in pots on the roof of our building in the city.
A family vacation in Cutler, Maine, the beautiful coastal town where my father’s family is from, staying at the home of our gracious Aunt Jane and Uncle Arthur (I know of no other woman who would welcome 7 nieces and nephews and their parents into their home for a week or two!), and picking peas together at their neighbor Steve’s farm behind their cottage. Then sitting on the porch pressing them from their pods to prepare them for dinner. Those were summer peas, planted later in the year after the frost had finally left the downeast Maine coast.
Now, fresh peas remind me of Charles Spada, as I picture him shucking his peapods and munching on peas throughout the day.
This post is a Charles’ inspired idea, to prepare three fresh pea dishes, a soup, a salad and a pasta. What a wonderful idea!
All three dishes are a snap to make, and each highlights fresh peas in a different way.
The soup has all the best savory soup flavors, leek and onion, complimenting the sweetness of fresh peas. You will make this soup just so your home can smell divine.
The pasta is a great variation on the traditional Italian peas and prosciutto dish, and the salad is a new twist on the Tuscan fresh fava bean and fresh pecorino tradition celebrated throughout spring when both ingredients are available.
Fresh pecorino cheese – a young sheep cheese, that has been aged for only about 30 days, but if you cannot find it, you can use the more readily available pecorino romano, just adjust the salt to taste.
SPRING PEA SOUP
- 2 TBS. Torre di Gamberaia Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 2 TBS Butter
- 2 large leeks, cleaned and chopped
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1-1/2 cups fresh peas
- 1 tsp Rivesaline Ile de Re’ Gros Sel salt
Fresh ground pepper to taste
For serving:
4 slices prosciutto di Parma
½ cup labneh, yogurt or cream fraiche
Heat the oil and butter in a heavy pan, large enough to hold the soup.
Add the onion and leeks and saute’ until tender. Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil.
Add the peas and cook for 5 minutes until the peas are tender. Do not overcook, the peas should be bright green and al dente.
Add the salt and pepper and using either an immersion blender, food processor or blender, puree the soup.
Place the prosciutto slices on a baking pan covered in aluminum foil. Broil until crisp.
Place the soup in four soup bowls and serve with a dollop of labneh, yogurt or cream fraiche and crumble one piece of prosciutto over each. Serve with additional salt and pepper.
Serves four
SPRING PEA SALAD
- 1 cup fresh peas
- 1 cup Fresh Pecorino cheese (if not available, substitute pecorino romano, and use less salt)
- 1 large shallot, minced
- 10 fresh mint leaves, cut in shreds (if not available, substitute fresh basil leaves)
- 2 tsp. Rivesaline Ile de Re’ Sel Sec
- 4 TBS Torre di Gamberaia Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 3 TBS. red wine vinegar
- Fresh ground pepper
Prepare an ice bath in a large bowl.
Bring a pot of water to boil, add the peas and cook for 3 minutes. Do not over cook, peas should be only slightly tender.
Drain the peas and plunge into the ice bath for about a minute until they are cool and have stopped cooking.
Drain and dry the peas and put them in a serving bowl. Add the shallot, olive oil, salt, vinegar, and mint or basil.
If using pecorino romano, use less salt, as the cheese will be saltier than fresh pecorino.
Serves four
For the pea salad, it would also be possible, if you like uncooked fresh peas like Charles does, to not blanch the peas at all, but just toss them together with the other ingredients.
PASTA WITH PEAS
- 2 cups fresh peas
- ¾ lb. Chifferi Rigati or any short pasta, such as Mezze Rigatoni, Fusilli, etc.
- ¼ lb. guanciale (or pancetta), chopped finely
- 1 medium onion
- 12 large basil leaves (if not available, substitute fresh mint)
- Rivesaline Ile de Re’ Sel Sec
- 4 TBS Torre di Gamberaia Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Grated Pecorino Romano cheese, for serving
Heat olive oil in a heavy pan large enough to hold the peas and pasta.
Add the chopped onion and guanciale and saute’ on medium/medium high heat until the onion is tender and the guanciale is slightly browned.
Meanwhile, boil a pot of water.
When the water boils, add the salt and pasta to the water and boil for 4 to 5 minutes – it should be only about half cooked, slightly tender.
