Peas
Petits Pois à l'ancienne (French style peas)
- This traditional French recipe for cooking fresh
garden peas makes a wonderful accompaniment for roast
chicken, turkey, veal or pork.
-
- 4 lbs fresh peas in the pod
- 1 Cos lettuce or 2 small Sweet Romaine lettuces
- 1 bunch small spring onions (or 1 large onion)
- 1 & 1/2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 Bouquet garni
- Water or Stock
- Salt and freshly ground pepper for seasoning
-
- Shell the peas. Clean the onions, remove the green
part of the stalk and then halve vertically. (If
using a mature onion, trim and slice vertically).
Wash the lettuce and slice the leaves at about 1 inch
intervals. Gently sweat the onions for a few minutes
in the butter with the bouquet garni but do not
golden or brown. Sprinkle with the sugar then add the
peas and lettuce leaves in alternate layers seasoning
the peas with pepper and salt each time. Pour in
sufficient water or stock for the simmering liquid to
cook the top layer of peas and cook gently for about
30 minutes or until tender.To serve, remove the
bouquet garni and present in a serving dish, but do
not drain. The sweet cooking juices will blend very
well with the gravies from the meat.
Mussels, clams and peas
- 1kg mussels
- 1kg clams
- 100 ml white wine
- 4 shallots chopped fine
- 500g peas, shelled
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 10g unsalted butter
- 6 tbsp double cream
- 1 small handful fresh mint, chopped
-
- Remove the beards from the mussels and put them with
the clams in a bucket under running cold water. Leave
them for at least half an hour. In a great big pot,
fry the shallots slowly in the oil and butter over a
gentle heat. Bring a pan of lightly salted and
sugared water (a big pinch of sugar helps bring out
the natural sweetness in the peas) up to the boil,
then tip in the peas, return to the boil and cook for
five minutes or so, until softened. Remove from the
heat, and leave the peas in the water -this will
prevent any wrinkling. Drain the mussels and clams,
and add to the shallot pot, along with the wine, and
cover. Raise the heat and, stirring carefully now and
then, cook until all the shells have opened. Discard
any that do not. Now pour in the cream. Drain the
peas and tip them into the pot. Add the chopped mint,
mix together and serve piping hot.
Griddled scallops with pea puree and mint
Serves 10.
- 3-5 scallops per person, cut in half if large
-
- For the pea puree
- 50g butter
- 1 onion, sliced
- 1 small lettuce, shredded
- 2 mint leaves
- 250g peas
- ½ tsp sugar
- 125-150ml dry white wine
- 150ml double cream
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
-
- For the mint vinaigrette
- 3 sprigs fresh mint, leaves picked and finely chopped
- 1 tsp sugar
- 50ml boiling white-wine vinegar
- 50ml light, clean-tasting oil (i.e. sunflower or
groundnut)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
-
- To make the pea puree, heat half the butter in a
casserole, add the sliced onion and cook until
softened. Add the lettuce, mint, peas, sugar, salt,
pepper and white wine. Cook gently for about 30
minutes, until the peas are tender Boil off any
excess liquid. Add the cream and reduce again. Purée
the mixture with the remaining butter and the lemon
juice.
- To make the vinaigrette, place the chopped mint in a
bowl, add the sugar and a generous pinch of salt, and
then cover with the boiling vinegar. Infuse for a few
minutes, then add salt and pepper to taste, and whisk
in the oil.
- To finish, sear the scallops in a hot pan, preferably
a griddle, and place a serving around the outside of
each plate. And a good scoop of pea puree in the
middle and drizzle a couple of teaspoonfuls of
vinaigrette around the scallops.