GIVE PEAS A CHANCE!

 

Are you one of those people who always keeps a packet of peas in the freezer? Ready to hand for a quick side dish or addition to soup or stew? Not me. I don’t like frozen peas. In my opinion, they are fairly tasteless and ever so starchy. At least they’re green. Canned ones don’t even have that attribute. 

But peas picked fresh from the garden are a revelation, tender and sweet, almost like a different vegetable. Without even sorting for size, I shell them immediately and plunge them into boiling water. I drain them after 1 minute and chill in ice water. Even the fat, mature peas are good to eat at this point. The peas can be added to cooked foods without further cooking or refrigerated for later use. These fresh-podded peas, once blanched, won’t need further cooking; just reheat them briefly.

I never seem to have more than a small basketful at any one picking. A pound of peas in their pods will make from 1 to 1 ½ cups shelled. Shelling takes about 10 minutes. I can watch the afternoon news while I pop the peas from their pods.

Not everyone has a nearby pea-patch. If you find shelling peas at the farmers’ market, give them a try. Hopefully, they were picked the same morning and maintain their natural sugars. 

Here are some of the ways I served peas during the magical few weeks of pea-picking. 

Ham, Eggs, and Peas on Toast. Utterly simple, incredibly delicious. Fry eggs in olive oil. Place on toasted bread that is “buttered” with extra virgin olive oil. Top with thinly sliced ibérico ham. Quickly heat the blanched peas in the skillet and spoon them over the top of the eggs. A few chips of fried garlic, if you like. Salt and freshly ground pepper. Ya está--that's it! 

Mixed Vegetables (Menestra). This classic vegetable stew changes with the seasons. In spring, garden peas, artichokes, asparagus, and fava beans are included in varying proportions. Each vegetable is cooked separately, then combined. Add a poached or fried egg per person, if desired.  Here's the complete recipe for menestra: Medley of Garden Vegetables.

Potatoes Panaderas with Peas and Egg. Panadera potatoes are sliced and baked with garlic, strips of green pepper, wine, and olive oil. (The recipe for patatas panaderas is here.) I warmed up leftover potatoes with blanched peas and topped them with a poached egg. What a satisfying supper dish! 

Soupy Rice with Peas (Risi e Bisi). This is an Italian recipe but I’ve given it a Spanish twist, using only olive oil, no butter, and aged Manchego cheese instead of Parmigiano. Spanish paella rice is a medium-short grain, much like Italian Arborio. 

After shelling, the pea pods are cooked in stock to add flavor to the cooking liquid for the rice. (If you don’t have stock, cook the pods in salted water with onion.) 

Soupy Rice with Peas (Risi e Bisi)

Arroz Caldoso con Guisantes

Serves 4

2 pounds peas in their shells (2 cups shelled peas)

5 cups chicken stock

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil + more to serve

2 ounces pancetta or bacon cut in strips

¼ cup finely chopped onion or shallots

1 cup short-grain rice

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

¼ cup grated cheese + more to serve

Shell the peas. Reserve the pods. Cook the shelled peas in boiling water 1 minute. Drain and cool them in ice water. Drain and reserve.

Place the washed pods in a pot with the stock. Bring to a boil and cook until the pods are tender, 45 minutes. Use an immersion blender to blend the pea pods and stock until pods are pureed. Pass the puree through a strainer, pressing on the solids to extract all the liquid.  

Heat the oil in a deep skillet and fry the pancetta until crisp. Tilt the pan and skim out the pancetta. Add the onion to the pan and sauté on medium heat until softened, 4 minutes. Stir in the rice and cook 1 minute. Add the stock with pea-pod puree, half of the reserved pancetta, 1 tablespoon of the parsley, salt to taste, and pepper. Bring the liquid to a boil, reduce to medium-low, and cook, stirring occasionally, until rice is tender, about 15 minutes. 

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the peas and grated cheese. Serve with additional cheese, remaining pancetta, and chopped parsley. Drizzle with additional olive oil.

From my pea-patch: GIVE PEACE A CHANCE!

More recipes for peas (ok to use frozen ones):

Sauté of Peas with Ham 

Rice with Peas and Cuttlefish 

Potato and Pea Salad with Mint

Rice with Peas and Cuttlefish 

Baby Peas with Ham (Guisantes Lágrimas) 

Springtime Vegetable Stew with Dumplings 

Tortilla with Potatoes and Peas 

Learn more about the vegetables of Moorish Spain that have come down to us today. (Hint--no tomatoes or peppers, yes peas.) Much more about the flavors of al-Andalus in my slideshow presentation for the Culinary Historians of New York: Al-Andalus: The Enduring Influence of Islamic Culture on Spanish Cuisine.  And, for lots of vegetable recipes, get the cookbook FLAVORS OF AL-ANDALUS--The Culinary Legacy of Spain. (See below for where to order.)

 

This cookbook explores the fascinating story of the deep and lasting influences that Islamic culture has left on modern Spanish cooking. 

Author and Spanish cooking expert Janet Mendel tells the story of the Moorish influence on Spanish cooking through 120 recipes and photographs for modern-day dishes, from salads and vegetables to fish, poultry and meat to sweets and pastries, that trace their heritage to foods served in medieval times.  (Hippocrene Books)    

 Order on IndiePubs (USA) 

Use PROMO CODE HIPPOCRENE40 for 40% off on all Hippocrene titles at IndiePubs online bookstore.

***

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STUFFED EGGS ARE CROWD-PLEASERS!

 

Your guests will love these eggs stuffed with chopped shrimp.

If you’re having a backyard party or you’re off to a community potluck, stuffed eggs are the answer. In any form, they are real crowd-pleasers. I like them, too, as a simple lunch dish, served with chilled gazpacho in a glass.

The Spanish rendition of huevos rellenos (stuffed eggs), once a typical selection in tapas bars, is usually made with canned tuna mashed with the yolks, the tops napped with mayonnaise—often homemade with extra virgin olive oil. This version, with shrimp instead of tuna, is rather more elegant. 

Vary the recipe to suit yourself or your guests’ tastes. Chives instead of parsley. Chopped pickles in place of capers. Use lobster instead of shrimp. Add Dijon mustard and/or Tabasco and call the eggs "devilled." I mashed a fillet of salty anchovy with the yolks to give the mixture extra oomph. 

Tips: You can easily double or quadruple this recipe for a crowd. But be sure to leave yourself enough time to peel two or three dozen eggs! Cut a sliver off the bottom of each half-egg white so they sit flat on the serving plate. Oh yes, don’t leave that reserved half-yolk on the kitchen cabinet—the ants will get it. It’s officially summer when the ants return to my kitchen.

Eggs Stuffed with Shrimp

Huevos Rellenos con Gambas

The ingredients for the stuffing can be chopped and mashed with the yolks or, if you prefer, put everything in a mini-processor and chop them together. 

Use any size shrimp (gamba or langostino). Chop them fairly small for the stuffing. Tiny whole shrimp can be used to decorate the tops of the eggs.

Serves 8 (½ egg per person).

4 (large) eggs

3 ounces peeled shrimp (to make ½ cup chopped)

1 anchovy fillet, drained (optional)

1 teaspoon minced or grated onion

1 teaspoon drained capers or olives + more for garnish

1 teaspoon chopped red pimiento + more for garnish

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

2 teaspoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon mayonnaise

Salt to taste

Freshly ground black pepper

Salad greens to serve

Bring a pan of water to a boil. Carefully lower the eggs into the pan and cook them 10 to 12 minutes. Drain and cover the eggs with cold water. Allow them to cool.

Mash yolks with other ingredients.

Peel the eggs and cut them in half lengthwise. Remove the yolks. Reserve ½ of 1 yolk and place the rest in a bowl. Mash them with a fork. Cut a sliver off the bottom of the whites so they don’t wobble and place on a serving plate or in a covered plastic container and refrigerate.

Chop together the shrimp, anchovy, onion, capers, and pimiento. Add this mixture to the yolks and mash them together. Add the parsley, lemon juice, oil and mayonnaise. Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

Spoon the yolk-shrimp mixture into the 8 egg whites. Cover and chill. 

To serve, garnish the tops of the stuffed eggs with capers, red pimiento, and small shrimp, as desired. Place them on a serving plate with salad greens. Grate the reserved half-egg yolk over the tops of the eggs.

More versions of stuffed eggs:

A tray of stuffed eggs ready to take to a friend's potluck. These are classic eggs stuffed with tuna and chopped olives.

Stuffed Eggs Gratin 

Double-Devilled Eggs (Fried)

Quail Eggs Filled with Tapenade 

Eggs Stuffed with Mojama Tuna 

No-Egg Mayonnaise for Stuffed Eggs 

 

This cookbook explores the fascinating story of the deep and lasting influences that Islamic culture has left on modern Spanish cooking. 

Author and Spanish cooking expert Janet Mendel tells the story of the Moorish influence on Spanish cooking through 120 recipes and photographs for modern-day dishes, from salads and vegetables to fish, poultry and meat to sweets and pastries, that trace their heritage to foods served in medieval times.  (Hippocrene Books)    

 Order on IndiePubs (USA) 

Use PROMO CODE HIPPOCRENE40 for 40% off on all Hippocrene titles at IndiePubs online bookstore.

***

Order on amazon (USA)

Order on amazon.es  (Spain)

Order on amazon.co.uk (UK)

Order on amazon.com.au (Australia)

(If you order on Amazon, please give my book a review!)

***

Order from Kitchen Arts & Letters

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CABBAGE-CENTRIC

 

I’m in a cabbage state of mind. With a plenitude of cabbages from the garden, I have been searching my files for cabbage recipes. With only one or two people to feed, a single cabbage goes a long way—half a head makes a veggie main dish for one meal, coleslaw with another quarter, an addition to Asian stir-fry for the rest. I even pulled out The Joy of Cooking in search of a recipe for sauerkraut (but did not try it). This week it’s trinxat, a Catalan dish of cabbage and potatoes.

I posted a recipe for trinxat way back in 2014. The recipe was taken from Chef Jeff Weiss’s book, Charcutería, The Soul of Spain. With the addition of butter, that recipe is rather more cheffy than the traditional, rustic dish, which is made with pork fat and olive oil. 

The traditional recipe comes from the Catalan region of the Cerdanya, the top northeast of Spain, where the Pyrenees mountains divide Spain and France. It can be made with scraps of pancetta, bacon, pork sausage, or Catalan butifarra sausage. Trinxat means “chopped” or “mashed,” as the cabbage and potatoes are crushed while frying in pork fat. 

Trinxat makes a splendid supper dish or might be served as a vegetable side. (For a vegetarian version, omit the porky bits and use additional olive oil.) 

Hash-brown cabbage and potatoes are topped with bacon and garlic, served with tomato sauce alongside.

Catalan Cabbage and Potato Hash

Trinxat

The idea is to fry the cooked cabbage and potatoes into a sort-of cake, somewhat like a potato tortilla. Start by boiling the cabbage and potatoes. Drain them well. Fry them in bacon fat, crushing them with a wooden spoon or potato masher until completely smashed. Press the mixture into a round cake, firming up the edges, and let it brown on the bottom. Either flip the mixture over, like a thick pancake, or, in the manner of a potato tortilla, hold a flat plate over the skillet and reverse it, turning the vegetables onto the plate, then sliding them back to brown on the reverse side. Unlike a tortilla that is set with eggs, the trinxat is not firm enough to hold its shape. It will slump. Never mind. Spread it out into a cake again and let the bottom brown. If the mixture falls apart, just scoop it up and serve it like hash. 

Serve the trinxat, if desired, accompanied by a simple sofrito (fried tomato sauce). 

Serves 4.

8 cups coarsely chopped cabbage (½ cabbage, about 1 ¾ pounds)

2 ½ cups diced potatoes (1 pound)

Salt

6 tablespoons olive oil

4-6 ounces pancetta, bacon, butifarra, or pork sausage

2 cloves garlic, sliced

1/8 teaspoon cumin seeds

Freshly ground black pepper

Cook the cabbage and potatoes in boiling salted water until very tender, 20 minutes. Drain well. Return the vegetables to the pan over a low heat to evaporate all the moisture. 

Cut the pancetta or bacon into strips. If using sausage, remove from casings and break into pieces. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a non-stick skillet. Add the pancetta and garlic and fry until pancetta is crisp. Remove the pan from the heat, tip it so the oil runs to one side, and skim out the pancetta and garlic. 

Return the pan to the heat. Add the cabbage and potatoes. Use a wooden paddle, spoon, or potato masher to chop and mash the vegetables until they are reduced to a lumpy mush. Stir some of the pancetta and garlic into the vegetables, reserving the rest to garnish the top of the dish. Season with salt to taste, cumin, and pepper.

Firm edges.

Keep turning the vegetables until they are thoroughly heated. Now press them into a cake, using the wooden paddle or spatula to firm the sides, pulling them away from the rim of the pan. Add 2 tablespoons of oil around the edges of the “cake.” Keep frying on medium-high until the vegetables begin to smell like they are browning on the bottom.

Slide hash back into skillet.

Lightly oil a flat plate that will fit over the top of the skillet. Hold it tightly on top of the skillet and reverse the cake onto the plate. Don’t worry if it loses its round shape. Add remaining 2 tablespoons of oil to the skillet. With a spatula, push the cake off the plate back into the skillet. Again, smooth it into a round cake and firm the sides. Let the bottom brown. 

Either slide the cake out onto a clean serving plate or, again, reverse it onto the serving plate. Top it with the reserved pancetta and garlic. 

Trinxat shaped into individual patties.

Another rendition of trinxat. Here the cabbage-potato mixture is shaped into patties and fried. That recipe (along with a chef's recipe for sofrito tomato sauce) is here.

More recipes from my cabbage repertoire:

Murcia-Style Cabbage with Garlic 

Cabbage and Sausage with Pine Nut Picada

Cabbage and Potato Gratin 

Cabbage Stuffed with Meat 

Meat-Stuffed Cabbage Rolls with Olives 

Cabbage Roll-Ups, Sevilla Style with Brava Sauce

Mallorcan "Dry" Soup with Cabbage 

Navarra Pork and Cabbage Soup (Garbure) 

Madrid-Style Cocido with Cabbage

Coleslaw with Olive Oil Dressing 

 

This cookbook explores the fascinating story of the deep and lasting influences that Islamic culture has left on modern Spanish cooking. 

Author and Spanish cooking expert Janet Mendel tells the story of the Moorish influence on Spanish cooking through 120 recipes and photographs for modern-day dishes, from salads and vegetables to fish, poultry and meat to sweets and pastries, that trace their heritage to foods served in medieval times.  (Hippocrene Books)    

 Order on IndiePubs (USA) 

Use PROMO CODE HIPPOCRENE40 for 40% off on all Hippocrene titles at IndiePubs online bookstore.

***

Order on amazon (USA)

Order on amazon.es  (Spain)

Order on amazon.co.uk (UK)

Order on amazon.com.au (Australia)

(If you order on Amazon, please give my book a review!)

***

Order from Kitchen Arts & Letters

Order on ark.no (Norway)