h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've been given a bag full of fresh garden peas in the pod by a colleague and I'm trying to think of something to do with them.

I'd like to use them as a main meal with a protein source & some other veg but without much else in the way of carbs as the peas are starchy enough. All the recipes I've found on t'internet (only a 20 minute browse) are either risotto, pasta or soup*.

Has anyone got any ideas? I know there are some keen foodies out there

-ing in anticipation.

Deb

* It's too hot for soup and anyway, I can't possibly eat it without a load of bread

when do you need it? I have a recipe for a pea flan - it's lovely.

Hmmm I thought this thread would be a variant of an improbable 2010 story showing for some reason as the current fourth most popular BBC news story:

"A Massachusetts man who was rushed to hospital with a collapsed lung came home with an unusual diagnosis: a pea plant was growing in his lung". http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10945050

Cough...

http://lunchtimelegend.co.uk/2012/12/pea-and-ham-soup/



FB

Whatever you do with it, do it QUICKLY. Peas do not keep for any time at all fresh. Stick 'em in the freezer while you make your mind up.

Personally, I see nothing wrong with popping them out the pods and eating them raw. Very tasty too. I have plenty of pea recipes, but none beats that.

But, if you must...yeah, pea soup. Pea pesto (blitz up with parmesan, basil, EVOO, lemon juice). Peas with crispy bacon. Spaghetti with fresh peas, mint, basil and garlic.

The trick is not to do too much with them. They really don't need it.

B

Alton Brown will often come up with the answer to questions like this, and B is absolutely right - freeze any you're not going to use straight away http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/green-peas-with-cheese-and-herbs-recipe/index.html

And what's wrong with chilled pea soup on a hot summer day?

oh it wasn't pea flan, it was pea soup (like FBs recipe up there, it's fresh - or frozen - peas rather than the dried variety)

450g peas in their pods
1 cos or Density lettuce
1.2 litres water
115g butter
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
300ml single cream
1/2 tsp sugar (optional)


Shell the peas, reserving the pods. Take the outer leaves from the lettuce and cook with the pea pods in the measured water for 10 minutes. Cool. Blend to a purée and put througha sieve. Discard the pulp. Set the stock aside.

Simmer the peas and lettuce heart in the butter for 10 minutes in a pan with a tight-fitting lid. Add the hot stock from the pods, season and continue to cook until the peas are tender. Cool. Blend to a purée, adding more vegetable stock if there is not enough liquid.

Return to the pan and reheat, adding the cream at the last moment. Some palates may need a bit of sugar added as well

(recipe from Cordon Vert by Colin Spencer - 52 vegetarian dinner party menus. This is from summer menu 6. ISBN 9 780722 508947)

I'm going to use them tomorrow night. Definitely not in the mood for soup at the moment, but if I get any more (which is a good possibility) I might make some and freeze it cos it sounds gorgeous.

Chilled soup I did think about it but, no, I just can't. It's up there with fruit and hot custard.

My mum suggested I boil a gammon joint then cook the peas, some softened onion and fine beans in the stock for a few minutes while I cut the gammon into chunks, drain it all off and mix together. I quite like the sound of that actually, so think I'll give it a go.

for the suggestions. The soup is a definite one to try later in the year, even if I have to use frozen peas.

Deb

I have a recipe for spaghetti with peas and ham. It'snot a soup, but it does qualify as pasta.

Another option is to make paella, which calls for peas.

Fresh peas tossed raw in a salad (blanched quickly and cooled if you can't face them completely raw).

How about a pea frittata? Eggs as your protein source and add whichever veg you like - spinach, broccoli & pea is lovely, I like to add onions or leeks too and it tastes even better cold. If you are making your gammon joint, save a few end bits and add them in too.

Coleslaw doesn't have to be just carrot & cabbage - try with the peas, fine raw cauli& broccoli (again blanch quickly if you can't face them completely raw), add mayo or a lemon herb dressing and serve as a side.

to be honest for fresh peas I'd just either eat them raw, or blanched and added to a salad.

There is a classic French pea dish with lettuce but I can't remember the name of it.

this is Jamie Oliver's version
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/braised-peas-with-spring-onions-and-lettuce

There's also one that Escoffier used to do with a plain omlette filled with peas and lettuce (I'm guessing it's similar to that which Jamie made rolled up in an omlette. I've seen pictures of it, you slash open the omlette so you can see the contents and it looks fab)

I've already eaten some raw, but I have loads.

The fritatta sounds nice and I think that might be a left-overs dish.

But I think I can combine the Jamie Oliver dish with my mum's suggestion by using the gammon stock and replacing onions and green beans for spring onions & lettuce (never would've thought to use lettuce hot).

Mm, looking forward to tonight's tea now.

Deb

>>There is a classic French pea dish with lettuce but I can't remember the name of it<<

The French name is "petits pois à la française", oddly enough.

My pea crop was so disastrous this year that I only got two peas -- unless there are one or two hiding from shame.

I did my cobbled together combination recipe and it wasn't bad. After I'd cooked the gammon joint I cut some chunks off. I softened the spring onion using fry light then added a mugful of the gammon stock with the peas and a little gem lettuce. Boiled for 5 minutes, adding the chunks of gammon for the last couple, then strained it into a dish.

I'm obviously some kind of a philistine cos I don't like my veg too crunchy, so in future I'd want to do the peas for 10 minutes. Otherwise it was nice, and very filling. It looked nice too, which is always a bonus.

I have leftover peas which I've put in the freezer, probably for soup.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Deb

Did you enjoy your two peas, paulh

Deb

Not yet. I'm hoping to find more, hidden away among the dead vines.

Well, all I can say is...hap-pea hunting.

Deb

Paulh, don't eat the two peas. Use them as next year's seed - they're obviously the drought-resistant two peas.

The packet of seeds that I used said that I could get two crops a year from them. I am thinking of plating a second crop soon.