Sesame Garlic Snow Peas

You may recall that the share I received two weeks ago contained some sugar snap peas, and you may have also noticed that they have not shown up in a recipe. The reason, unfortunately is that the result of what I cooked with them was not very good. Seeing as that there is the possibility that some of you might try one of these recipes yourself, I only post things that were enjoyed by myself and at least one other person (usually my wife, because if my 3 year old got a vote there might never be anything posted). The post mortem of that dish revealed that I went wrong by letting the peas sit in the fridge for nearly a week before using. Certainly one of the benefits of CSA membership is how fresh everything is, and therefore items will last much longer.  I've had heads of CSA lettuce age over a week and still be green and crisp (ever seen grocery store lettuce after a week? Yuck!). Anyway, peas such as the snap and snow varieties are so yummy because of their high sugar content, but those sugars will start converting to starches as soon as the pea is picked, so fast use is a must. Armed with that knowledge, when week 10 brought a bag of snow peas I was ready to get them on our plates without delay with a quick and easy recipe adapted from one I found at simply recipes.

Share Contents Used
Snow peas
Mint

Ingredients
1/2 pound fresh snow peas
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon sesame oil
5 mint leaves, chopped fine

Preparation
Wash the snow peas then trim the tips and remove their fibrous string. Cut any large peas in half.  Heat sesame oil in a large skillet on medium high heat. Add the snow peas and garlic. Stir to coat with the oil. Cook for 1-2 minutes, being careful not to overcook. They should remain a bit crunchy.  Remove from heat. Stir in the chopped mint leaves and season taste with salt. Serve immediately.

Peas and Lettuce

I love a good ham dinner.  For me, its not enough to enjoy it once or twice a year on holidays, so once in a while I'll pick up a ham steak to build a meal around.  Peas are a great accompaniment to ham, so for tonight's dinner I wanted to find a more interesting way to use them that would involve some of the CSA vegetables.  After a bit of searching, I came across a French preparation called Petits Pois à La Française, which simply means "French style peas".  The traditional preparation involves peas, onions, lettuce, stock, creme fraiche and butter among other things and seemed a bit too rich for my tastes.  There were, however a lot of simpler variations on this recipe, and what you see here is based on bunch of recipes from here and there.  This recipe was delicious with the frozen peas, but I'll probably try this again when I can get my hands on from fresh peas.  Bon Appetit!

Share contents used:

Romaine lettuce from week 4

Ingredients:

2 tbs unsalted butter
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1½ cups frozen green peas
1 cup frozen pearl onions
6 oz romaine lettuce, washed, stems removed, and sliced into small strips
Salt and pepper, to taste

Heat 2 tbsp. butter in a large skillet over medium heat; add the garlic and onions and cook, stirring often, until the onions are thawed but not browned, about 4 minutes. Add the peas, season with salt and pepper and cook until hot, about 4 minutes. Stir in lettuce and 1 tbsp. water, season with salt and pepper. Stir until lettuce is just wilted.  Serve immediately.