Cooking right for life

Photo courtesy of AICR

SNAPPY PEA: This pea medley is enlivened with mint and the juice and zest of an orange.

Since my black thumb kills any plant in reach, I love hanging out with friends in the country who garden, hoping for tips to improve my skills. Most of them raise vegetables and they have taught me that, even before thin asparagus stalks shoot up, tender peas are spring’s first gift.

Farm stands in the Northeast, where I live, get into full swing in June; but now, barely into spring, I am pleased to report that one friend, blessed with a greenhouse that gives her a jump on the season, has just shared dinner including her very first crop of peas.

Having watched the vines, lovingly bound to a trellis, climb and shoot out curly tendrils that were followed by delicate blush-white flowers, I found eating their bounty felt as special as attending a christening. If this sounds over-emotional, perhaps you have not experienced sitting down to eat food you have helped to harvest and then prepare.

Michael Pollan, whose new book, The Ominivore’s Dilemma, has received wide attention, writes about developing a more intimate relationship with what we eat. He describes those same feelings. They are surprisingly strong, even for something as simple as a plate of peas.

If you are a city dweller, see for yourself by visiting a berry farm in a few weeks or a farm stand that lets you into the field to twist your own ears of corn from the stalk in late July. But both suburbanites and urban dwellers can find some plot of land perhaps on a terrace, a community garden nestled in a playground, or even a fire escape and experience planting, tending and watching vegetables get ready for your kitchen. You will find that when food is truly fresh and good, you feel satisfied after eating a modest portion.

Our green pea feast included snow peas, so tender they were still translucent, and sugar snaps, a cross between snow and classic English green peas. Fresh peas, like corn, are sweet due to their sugars. But they turn to starch quickly, so we rushed them into boiling water and ate them just as is. Monitoring local farmers’ markets is the next best alternative.

For store-bought peas, I suggest adding them to a quick sauté in butter and serving with a sprinkling of fresh mint.

Spring Green Pea Medley

3 oz. snow peas

3 oz. sugar snap peas

1 tsp. butter

1 cup frozen baby green peas

1/4 cup orange juice

Salt and freshly-ground black pepper

1 tsp. freshly-grated orange zest

2 Tbsp. mint leaves, cut crosswise into thin strips

Set a bowl of ice water in the sink. In a pot of boiling water, cook the snow peas and sugar snaps for 30 seconds. Drain in a colander and immediately transfer the peas to the cold water to set their color and keep them crisp. Drain well and pat the peas dry.

In a medium skillet melt the butter over medium heat. Add the cooked and frozen peas, stirring to coat them with the butter. Pour in the juice and cook, stirring, until the peas are heated through but still tender-crisp, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat and season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in the zest and transfer the peas to a serving bowl.

Just before serving, sprinkle on the mint.

Makes 4 servings.