Cheesy Peas

I don't think I've ever seen fresh peas at any of my local farmers markets. So when I saw them (the same trip that I found the fresh eggs), I bought a container to give them a try. Since I had an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables that needed to be cooked  (I did kind of overdo the buying that day), I needed to find a simple and quick dish to get these little goodies into my mouth.

What I bought were labeled as "English Peas". I have no idea how they were supposed to look before they were cooked. I did notice what looked like two different peas in the container...there were big green peas and then a smaller less vibrant green pea.

I picked the recipe from the Cook With Jamie cookbook because a) it did say one could use fresh peas and b) it said cheesy so it had me.

The problem I had with this recipe is that it starts with "boil the peas until perfect". Okay. So, I've never had fresh peas. What is perfect??? How long? Where do I begin???? Oh no, what the hell do I do now!!!???? After I stopped my little panic attack, I went back and looked at some of his other pea recipes thinking that might give me a clue. One recipe said "simmer for 5 minutes until tender". Another said "place in boiling water for 3 to 4 minutes until tender". Another talked about "putting peas in a cold pan and pour boiling water over them" until they were perfect and tender of course. Feeling another panic attack again I decided to just throw them in boiling water and started picking a pea out every minute until I thought they were tender (this took about 4 minutes and burned the flesh off parts of my mouth).

Once I opened the lid and drained the peas I had another panic attack. The larger green peas were still large and beautifully green. But the smaller peas that had been in the batch? Those of you who are older might remember canned peas. And you might remember when it was said that a can of cheaper "generic" brand peas were just as good as say a can of Green Giant peas? And you might remember boiling these generic peas on the top of the stove. And that what you ended up with were these horribly pathetic gray mush peas? Yeah, the little peas looked just like that. Did I mention panic attack?

Jamie's directions on this recipe were a bit...lacking. Like a handful of this and a "knob" of that. Sigh. Another panic attack. But, I figured if I just threw in some extra butter and cheese it would be okay.

Now, the food blogger in me said "unacceptable for photographing for the blog". So I seriously considered taking a pair of tweezers and removing all the "good green" peas to a separate bowl to take a photo. But the "I'm hungry I want to eat" side of this blogger won out.

I have no idea how fresh peas are supposed to taste  (just how bad is that?). These didn't taste so bad. Even the gray peas didn't taste that bad and still had a bit of crunch to them. They had more "juice" than the peas in Jamie's picture so I probably added more butter than I should have.

Would I make these again? You know, probably not with fresh peas (I don't need the panic attacks) but I can see myself actually doing this to a nice frozen bag of Green Giant petite early peas!

CHEESY PEAS

4 big handfuls of fresh or frozen peas
a knob of butter
a big handful of freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
1 lemon
Ground white pepper

Boil the peas until perfect, then remove from the heat and drain in a colander, saving a small cup of the cooking water. Put the peas back in the pan with some of the reserved water and add a knob of butter. Stir around, then sprinkle in the Parmesan cheese and stir again until every single pea is lightly coated in the sweet, delicately melted cheese. You may need to add a bit more water to loosen the peas - you want them to be oozy (almost like a risotto consistency). A small squeeze of lemon juice always lifts the peas and cuts through the cheese, and a sprinkle of white pepper is nice too.

This dish is best made quickly at the very last minute as, like a risotto, the moment those peas begin to cool down things start getting a little claggy and rubbery and you definitely don't' want that. Serves 4.

Note: I put quite a bit of butter and cheese in the dish, but didn't measure.

Note: I have no idea what "claggy" means so I have no idea if my peas got that way.

Comments

[peabody]

Oh how I hate cookbooks like that. Cook until done. Cook until ready. Ummmm how do I know?

[noble pig]

I am laughing about the food blogger voice. I have it too! Hilarious.

[Louise]

... but there was cheese. Doesn't that always make everything alright? At least you were brave and gave it a go. Back to the steak cookbook now?!

[Ann]

I love peas. I love peas. I love love peas & parmesan. Yum. :)

[Shannon]

EWWWWW!! Peas are YUCKY! I think I got that from Grandma? or that is what Dad tells me...but those actually look kinda good, so props for making peas look edible! LOL

[Lara]

I love fresh peas. They have the best peas at the produce stands that spreckle the highway along Half Moon Bay. Yum...I also love eating frozen peas straight from the freezer.

[grace]

a little extra butter and cheese can never hurt. :)
i'm lucky because my grandparents always grow peas in their garden. i love em. (my standard for perfectly-boiled peas is that they're able to easily pierced with a fork tine.)

[Miri]

This sounds and looks sooo tasty! Cookbooks like that are certainly not my favorites either, to put it mildly :)

[Tim]

I must admit I'm quite often guilty of saying "cook until done".

I'm not the biggest fan of peas, but anything with that much parmesan and butter can't be a bad thing. I think claggy is referring to clag glue, a type of kid's craft glue we have here in Australia and they probably have in the UK. When it sets it's gummy and can kind of resemble melted cheese that has separated and clumped together. Not great.

[NotSoccer Mom]

not a big fan of the pea... unless they're the english pea in the pod that you eat raw. hey, did you know today is national junk food day?

[Mrs. L]

Tim - Thanks for clearing up the "claggy" bit... I figured it wasn't exactly something food for peas and cheese!