FROM GARDEN TO TABLE

 

Garden fava beans.

A heap of fava beans landed on my kitchen table, picked by Ben from the kitchen garden. A little later, a handful of shelling peas, broccoli, and some stalks of chard arrived. Two hours later, I had dinner on, a vegetable menestra. 

Another day a small basketful of assorted peas was the bounty. The peas are confusing: seemingly on the same vine are snow peas or mange touts, perfect for stir-fries, and non-edible pods with tiny baby peas. Some I eat raw--those wee peas are ever so sweet. The remainder get tossed in hot oil with pieces of ibérico ham. There are hardly enough at one picking to be more than a starter.

"Menestra" means a vegetable mixture. Although the word is similar to Italian minestrone, this is not a soup but a stew that can be served as a starter or, with the addition of meat, ham or bacon, a sturdy main dish. 

The menestra from Tudela (Navarra, northern Spain) is classic. It consists only of white asparagus, artichokes, peas, and fava beans, all cooked separately and combined in a light sauce. Sometimes the sauce is slightly thickened with flour. In Bilbao (Euskadi/Basque Country) menestra often accompanies braised lamb. For the Basque version, some of the cooked vegetables (such as chard stems, cauliflower florets) are floured, dipped in beaten egg, fried, and served on top of the menestra.

Mixed vegetables in a light sauce.

Medley of Garden Vegetables

Menestra de Verduras

This menestra depends entirely on what late-winter/early-spring vegetables you’ve got in the garden or can find at the farmers' market. For example, if you’ve got a cache of wild mushrooms, use a pound or two of them and only a cupful of peas. 

I’ve used fava beans, peas, chard, artichokes, carrots, and potatoes. I included smoked panceta (pork belly) and pieces of leftover cooked lamb, but the menestra can just as well be vegetarian, an excellent Lenten dish. 

Each vegetable is cooked separately then combined in sauce to finish cooking.

Use a light stock made from chicken and/or ibérico ham bone or, for a vegetarian version, vegetable cooking water from carrots, peas, cauliflower or white asparagus. Don’t use the cooking water from artichokes, favas, or chard as it tends to darken the mixture. Although tomatoes are not in season in the winter-to-spring garden, it’s fine to add canned tomatoes or paste to the cooking liquid.

Choice of vegetables:

Artichokes

Asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch lengths

Broccoli, florets

Brussels sprouts

Cardoons, trimmed and cut into 1 ½ inch pieces

Carrots, peeled and sliced

Cauliflower, florets

Celery, sliced

Chard, stems cut into 2-inch lengths, greens shredded

Fava Beans, shelled

Garlic cloves or green garlic shoots, chopped

Lettuce hearts, sliced

Mushrooms, sliced

Onion or leek, chopped

Peas, shelled

Potatoes, cut in 1 ½ -inch chunks

Panceta (pork belly)

Extra virgin olive oil

Panceta or bacon, cut in strips

Canned crushed tomato (optional)

Light chicken stock or vegetable cooking water

Chopped parsley, fennel or mint to garnish

Hard-boiled egg to garnish

If you are using fresh artichokes, cut off the stems and trim off the tough outer leaves. Cut the artichokes in quarters. Cook them in boiling salted water with a squeeze of lemon juice until a leaf pulls off easily, about 12 minutes. Drain. Scrape out the fuzzy chokes. 

Cook each of the vegetables separately in boiling, salted water until tender. Asparagus and chard cook in 5 to 6 minutes. Tiny peas and baby favas need to be blanched only about 1 minute. Carrots and potatoes, which can cook together, take about 12 minutes. Drain and refresh the vegetables in cold water.

Heat the oil in a skillet or cazuela over medium heat. Add the pieces of panceta, the chopped onion, garlic, and mushrooms and sauté until onion is softened, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato, if using, and the stock. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes.

Return the cooked vegetables to the pan, saving a few to garnish the top. Simmer them all together for 5 minutes, adding additional stock if needed to keep the vegetables saucy. Serve hot garnished with reserved vegetables, chopped herb, and quartered eggs. 

Baby Peas with Ham

Guisantes Lágrimas con Jamón

Tiny peas sautéed with ham and a poached egg.

Lágrima means “teardrop.” These tiny baby peas, a seasonal delicacy in the Basque Country, are so-called for their delicate oval shape. They hardly need cooking at all. For this recipe use any variety of very small pea, preferably straight from the garden! 

Don’t cook the serrano or ibérico ham because heat toughens it. Add ham to the peas and immediately remove the pan from the heat.

Use the fresh pods to make a light caldo, or pea broth, to serve alongside the dish of peas with ham.

Use pea pods to make caldo, pea broth, to go with the peas.

For 1 or 2 servings

1 pound peas in the pods or 1 cup (about 4 ounces) shelled baby peas 

Salt 

Pea pods

2 cups light chicken broth

1 cup pea cooking water

Slice of onion

Freshly ground black pepper

Lemon juice

1 large egg

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons chopped spring onions

Diced or slivered serrano or ibérico ham

Shell the peas and save the pods. There should be about 1 cup of shelled peas. Bring a pan of salted water to a boil. Blanch the peas for 30 seconds if they are tiny, “teardrop” peas. For mature (or frozen) peas, cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain, saving the cooking water. 

Place 1 cup of the cooking water back in the pan with the chicken broth and onion slice. Add all of the reserved pea pods. Bring to a boil and simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes or until reduced by half. Pour through a fine strainer. Discard solids. Season the pea-pod broth with salt to taste, pepper and a few drops of lemon juice.

Egg in plastic wrap to poach.

Line a small cup with plastic wrap. Add a few drops of oil. Crack the egg and drop it into the cup. Gather the corners of the plastic wrap together and twist them to enclose the egg. Tie with kitchen twine. Bring a small pan of water to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and add the egg wrapped in plastic. Poach the egg 4 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to lift the egg out. Leave it enclosed until ready to serve.

Heat the oil in a small skillet and sauté the chopped onions on medium heat until softened, 5 minutes. Don’t let them brown. Add the blanched peas and sauté on medium-high for 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the diced ham and immediately remove the pan from the heat.

Reheat the pea broth and serve it into demitasse cups. Serve the peas with ham on a plate. Snip the plastic wrap to release the poached egg. Place it beside or on top of the peas.   

More recipes with fava beans and peas:

Fava Beans in Their "Britches"

Fava Bean Cream

Fava Bean Salad with Mint.

Tortilla with Fava Beans and Potatoes

Rice with Peas and Cuttlefish

Vegetarian Stew with Peas, Favas, and Dumplings (Pipeo)

THE JOY OF SPRINGTIME VEGETABLES

Springtime vegetable cornucopia.

At the market, a heap of peas in their pods drew me in. Now that I have no vegetable garden (lamentably, due to rooting wild boars), I miss the pleasure of picking and shelling peas, a few to eat raw, a double handful to sauté in olive oil. The market peas, of course, were not as fresh and sweet as those just picked, but, still, they had a springtime allure. 

I added more spring vegetables to my basket—fat artichokes, fava beans, leafy lettuce and spring onions. All of the fixings for pipeo, a vegetable stew from the inland village of Casarabonela (Málaga, southern Spain). That pueblo, on rich agricultural land in the foothills of the Sierra de las Nieves, has an annual Pipeo festival (this year, on April 22). 

Pipeo is a plato viudo, a “widowed” dish, bereft of meat or fatty sausages. It once was a thrifty way to feed a family, using seasonal vegetables from the kitchen garden, given substance with bread dumplings. Being vegetarian, it is well-suited for Lenten meals, when observant Catholics refrain from eating meat. 

Pipeo is a lovely springy dish. Serve it as a starter, vegetarian main or even a side.  

This vegetable stew has artichokes, peas, fava beans, romaine and potatoes plus bread dumplings. 

Dumplings made of bread crumbs add substance to an all-vegetable stew.

Springtime Vegetable Stew with Dumplings

Pipeo

The name of this dish, pipeo, comes from "pipas," meaning "pips" or "seeds", as the peas, fava beans and almonds are all "pipas." 

The dumplings, called tortitas or pelotas, are first fried until browned, then cooked in the stew. I might add some grated nutmeg, freshly ground black pepper, even some powdered ginger, the next time I make the dumplings. 

Add the artichokes to the pan first, as they take longest to cook. Follow with the fava beans, lettuce and potatoes. Add the peas last. Tiny green peas, called lagrimas, or "tear drops," hardly need cooking at all. Use them to garnish the finished pipeo. The sauce for the vegetables is thickened with a typical majao, a paste of crushed garlic, almonds and fried bread. Make the majao in a mortar or speed up the process by using a blender. 

Pipeo is a dish with pips.

Serves 4.

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/3 cup almonds

2 cloves garlic, peeled

1 slice bread, crusts removed

½ cup chopped spring onions or scallions

1 tablespoon pimentón (paprika)

3 medium artichokes (18 ounces) or 4 smaller ones

5 cups water

1 teaspoon salt

1 bay leaf

1 large potato (10 ounces)

½ romaine lettuce

1 cup (4 ounces) shelled fava beans 

1 ¾ cups (8 ounces) shelled peas

½ teaspoon cumin

For the dumplings:

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup fine dry breadcrumbs

Olive oil for frying

Fry garlic, almonds, bread.

In a cazuela, deep skillet or stew pot, heat the 3 tablespoons of oil on medium heat. Fry the almonds and 2 cloves of garlic, turning, until they are golden. Skim them out and reserve. Add the bread to the oil and fry it until golden on both sides. Remove.

Add the chopped onions to the oil remaining in the pan. Sauté gently 4 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the pimentón.

Trim artichokes.

Trim the artichokes by removing several layers of outer leaves. Cut off and discard the top two-thirds of the artichokes, leaving the bottoms. Cut the bottoms in quarters. With the tip of the knife, cut away the fuzzy choke in the center. Drop the artichoke pieces, as they are prepared, into the oil in the pan. 

Cover the artichokes with 4 cups of the water. Add the salt and bay leaf. Bring the water to a boil, reduce heat and cover the pan. Cook the artichokes 5 minutes.

Make the majao.

Meanwhile, peel the potato and snap it into small pieces. Slice the lettuce crosswise. Add the potatoes, lettuce and shelled fava beans to the pan with the artichokes. Keep the liquid bubbling gently. Cover and cook 10 minutes.

In a mortar or blender, crush the fried almonds, garlic and bread with the cumin. Add the remaining 1 cup of water to make a smooth mixture. Add the almond mixture to the pan with the shelled peas. Cover and cook 5 minutes or until all of the vegetables are tender.

While the vegetables are cooking, prepare the dumplings. Place the beaten eggs in a bowl. Add the minced garlic, parsley, salt and breadcrumbs. Combine all the ingredients to make a soft dough (add a little water, if needed). Roll or pat the dough into (8 to 10) walnut-size balls. 

Fry dumplings, then cook in the sauce.

Heat oil in a skillet to a depth of ½ inch. Fry the dumpling balls until they are golden brown on all sides. Remove them to drain on a paper towel. 

When the vegetables in the stew are tender. Add the dumplings to the pan. Cook them 5 minutes (or longer for soft and spongy dumplings). Let the stew rest 10 minutes before serving.  

More recipes for peas:

Sauté of Peas with Ham.

Rice with Peas and Cuttlefish.

Potato and Pea Salad with Mint.

Tortilla with Peas and Fava Beans.

Another spring vegetable stew: Menestra.

Another dumpling recipe for Lent:

Chickpeas and Spinach with Cod Dumplings.

LET THERE BE PEAS!

Let there be peas! Garden peas, almost ready for picking.

And, glory be, so it has come to pass. Sweet garden peas. At first, just a handful at a time. My grandson Leo shells them and eats them raw. Within a few days, I have enough for a couple of servings, quickly blanched and spritzed with a little olive oil.

Now, I’m picking a small basketful every other day. Sure, I could freeze them. But they are so delicate and sweet when freshly picked that I’m trying to use them fresh while they last.

Easy-peasy to shell.

Fresh-picked peas are so sweet.

Peas from the garden have natural sugars that start turning to starch as soon as they are picked. To keep that sweetness, I shell the peas immediately after picking and blanch them, then store them, refrigerated, until I’m ready to use them. (To blanch the peas, bring a pan of salted water to a rolling boil. Add the peas and return the water to a full boil—about 1 ½ minutes. Drain and rinse in very cold water.) 

Peas are really easy to shell. On the convex curved side, get the side of your thumb nail into the pod and just sort of unzip the shell.

Peas in a pod.

Shelling peas are in local markets now too. I bought a handful for comparison. They are bigger than my garden peas (in the photo at right, the market peas are on the right) and starchy rather than sweet. They would be fine for slow-cooked dishes or for soup.

 

 

 

Here are some of the ways I prepared peas this week.

Peas sautéed with serrano ham.

Rice with cuttlefish, peas, fava beans and artichokes.

Salad with peas, potatoes and fresh mint. The wildflowers bloom right next to the pea patch.

For a rainy spring day--split-pea soup with carrots, chard and fresh peas.

Salteado de Gusiantes con Jamón
Sauté of Peas with Ham
 

With poached egg, peas are a main dish.

This is the sort of dish that might be served as a starter or tapa in Spain. Garnish with a little chopped cooked egg, if desired. Or, top a serving with a poached egg and serve it as a luncheon or supper dish.

For this recipe, I used garden peas that had been blanched, so they only needed to reheat in the sauté pan. If using frozen or raw peas, let them cook for 5 minutes.

You will need about 1 ¼ pounds of peas in their pods to make 1 cup shelled peas.

Serves 6 as a starter or side; 3 as a supper dish.

3 cups shelled peas (about 1 pound)
3 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup finely chopped spring onion or scallions
1 clove garlic (optional)
3 ounces chopped serrano ham (about ½ cup)
1 tablespoon dry Sherry or white wine (optional)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Eggs (optional), hard-cooked and chopped or poached

Heat the oil in a medium skillet and add the onions and garlic, if using. Sauté very gently until onion is almost melted, about 6 minutes. Add the ham and sauté 2 minutes. Add the Sherry, if using, and cook until liquid has evaporated and ham is sizzling in the oil again.

Add the peas to the skillet. Sauté, stirring, until peas are cooked, about 5 minutes for fresh or frozen peas. Season with salt to taste and pepper.

Serve hot or room temperature. Garnish, if desired, with chopped hard-cooked egg. Or, top each serving with a poached egg.

Cool way to poach eggs. Line a small bowl with plastic wrap. Add a little olive oil. Break an egg into the bowl. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Twist the plastic to close tightly and tie. Submerge the egg packets in boiling water. Reduce heat to a simmer. Poach eggs 3 to 4 minutes. Remove the packets. Untie the plastic and carefully roll the eggs onto the plate of peas and ham.

Arroz con Guisantes y Sepia
Rice with Peas and Cuttlefish

A simple paella: rice, cuttlefish, vegetables.

This Alicante dish is a simplified paella, containing only cuttlefish (use squid, if preferred) and vegetables. Use fresh or frozen small fava beans and peas. If using fresh artichoke, cut it in quarters and add immediately to the pan—no need to soak in lemon-water.

Instead of a whole head of garlic, I used a stem of immature garlic from the garden.

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 small head of garlic
1 pound cleaned cuttlefish, cut in pieces
1 tomato, grated (½ cup pulp)
1 small artichoke
¼ cup white wine
¼ teaspoon saffron threads, crushed
¼ cup hot water
1 ½ cups rice
3 cups water
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 cup shelled fava beans
1 cup shelled peas
Lemon slices, to serve

Heat the oil in a paella pan or deep skillet. Fry the whole head of garlic. Add the pieces of cuttlefish and sauté for a few minutes. Add the grated tomato pulp.

Strip off and discard outer leaves from the artichoke. With a serrated knife, cut the artichoke into quarters. Use the tip of a small knife to nip out the fuzzy choke. Add the quartered artichoke to the pan.

Add the wine and cook until wine has evaporated.

Place the crushed saffron in a small bowl and add the hot water. Allow to infuse for 5 minutes.

Add the rice to the pan and allow to sauté a few minutes. Add the water, salt, fava beans and the saffron-infused water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and allow rice to bubble for 10 minutes. Add the peas. Place the head of garlic in the center of the rice. Reduce heat and cook until liquid is absorbed and rice is nearly tender, about 8 minutes. Don’t stir the rice.

Remove the pan from the heat and allow to set for 10 minutes. Serve with lemon slices.

Ensalada de Patatas y Guisantes
Potato and Pea Salad with Mint

Mint leaves lend a fresh springtime flavor.

Mint gives this salad a fresh, springtime flavor. Stir the cooked peas into the potatoes and dressing immediately before serving, so the vinegar dressing does not leach the green color from the peas.

Serves 6.

¾ pound small new potatoes
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons Sherry vinegar
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup shelled peas
¼ cup fresh mint leaves, chopped

Cook the potatoes in boiling salted water to cover until they are tender. Drain and let them cool. Cut the potatoes in quarters and place in a bowl.

Combine the mustard and vinegar. Whisk in the oil until dressing is emulsified. Season with salt. Pour over the potatoes. Let them marinate at least 1 hour or, refrigerated, overnight.

Cook the peas until tender, 5 to 7 minutes for frozen or shelled peas; 2 minutes for small garden peas.

Immediately before serving, stir the peas into the potatoes with some of the chopped mint. Place on a serving plate and sprinkle remaining mint on top. Serve room temperature.

Wildflowers, garden peas, April showers. Must be springtime.

MENESTRA--A SPLENDID DISH OF SPRING VEGGIES

Last week I was at the top of the fava bean season (see the previous blog posting for a couple of recipes). This week it’s peas, sweet garden peas, and a few long-awaited artichokes. Along with just-pulled spring onions and some asparagus (from the market), the ingredients add up to one of the best vegetable dishes of the seasonal Spanish kitchen.

This is menestra, a mixture or melange of veggies. Besides favas, peas, artichokes and asparagus, the combination can include any other vegetables fresh from the garden (or farmers’ market)—wild mushrooms, chard stems, cardoons, baby carrots, green beans, new potatoes. If served as a side dish (wonderful with grilled lamb chops), a little chopped serrano ham flavors the menestra. For a main dish, I like to add sliced sausage, such as Catalan white butifarra.

The traditional way to prepare menestra is to cook each vegetable separately in boiling water, then to combine them in a sofrito. Sofrito is the flavor base, a fried mixture of olive oil, onions, garlic and tomato. You can use fresh tomatoes, peeled and chopped, or, if tomatoes are not in season, a few spoonfuls of canned tomato sauce (not concentrate).

Menestra de Verduras
Mixed Spring Vegetables

I like to leave the (inedible) tips on the artichokes. To eat them, you pick them up by the tips and bite off the tender bottom. But, if you prefer, the artichokes can be trimmed down to the bottoms. (More about cooking artichokes  here.)

Serves 4 as a side or 2 as a main dish.

2 artichokes
12 asparagus spears
4 ounces shelled peas (about ½ cup)
4 ounces shelled fava beans (about ½ cup)
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 or 2 spring onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
4 ounces sliced butifarra or other sausage (optional)
1 ounce chopped serrano ham (optional)
¼ cup canned tomato sauce
¼ cup white wine
¼ cup water
salt and pepper
strips of roasted red pepper to garnish (optional)

Trim away stems on the artichokes, snap off a few outer leaves and cut the artichokes lengthwise into quarters. With the tip of a knife, nip out the fuzzy choke. Drop the cut artichokes into boiling salted water and cook until a leaf pulls off easily, 10 to 12 minutes. Drain.

Snap off and discard butt ends of asparagus and cut spears into two or three pieces. Cook them in boiling salted water for 3 minutes from the time the water returns to a boil. Cook peas 1 minute; fava beans 4 minutes. Drain the vegetables.

Heat the oil in a cazuela or skillet and sauté the onions and garlic 4 minutes. Add the sliced butifarra, if using, or chopped ham, if using, and sauté 4 minutes. Stir in the tomato sauce, wine, water, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then stir in all the vegetables. Simmer 10 minutes. Serve the menestra hot garnished with strips of roasted red pepper, if desired.