Andrew's ingredient of the month: Peas, please!

When sitting on the deck on a nice summer evening, what's more relaxing than splitting open pea pods and releasing their sweet green globes from their prisons, popping the occasional raw one into your mouth? I go bananas (so to speak) for fresh peas and during the first week of pea season (mid to late June or July in Canada, depending on where you live), I could eat them every day.

Even my dog loves peas, and the pods, too. (From a rather unfortunate experience, I learned that you shouldn't give your dog too many of the pods to chew on, no matter how much it begs. If you do, you'll very possibly have some nasty cleaning up to do later.)

Healthy peas
Peas are wonderfully good for you, full of protein, fibre and vitamins C, K and A, among others. Like most legumes, they have more calories than vegetables but are more filling.But most importantly, peas are delicious -- sweet and full-flavoured. Frozen peas are good to use year-round, but fresh peas are a seasonal specialty you should appreciate full-on during their brief appearance on the market, which can last only three to four weeks.

Cooking peas
If the peas are small and sweet, give 'em a quick boil in salted water; often one or two minutes is plenty of time for peas to tenderize. Drain, and top with a little butter or olive oil. You can add a little chopped mint to the cooked peas.

Peas and lettuce
A more elaborate -- and favourite -- way to prepare peas is to cook them with some lettuce. For about 2 cups/500 mL of fresh shelled peas, use one Boston lettuce.

Cut up the lettuce, or cut into wedges, and combine with the peas. Add three or four green onions cut into pea-sized pieces. Sprinkle with salt and a pinch of sugar and add enough water just to the level of the peas. Bring to a boil, cover and cook until tender, anywhere from three to about eight minutes, depending on the maturity of your peas. French cooks often add a little heavy cream at the end of cooking.

Click to continue to learn how to pair peas with other greens...

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Peas with other greens
Instead of the traditional lettuce cooked with peas, you can cook watercress or arugula with your peas. Chop the watercress and cook with the peas. Add arugula only after the peas are fully cooked; add the arugula to the pot and cook for a mere 5 seconds or just until wilted. Drain immediately and stir in some olive oil or butter.

Stir-frying with peas
Pre-cooked peas are ideal for stir-fries. In China, they are traditionally cooked with small shrimp, the sweetness of the shrimp playing along wonderfully with the sweetness of the peas. In Shanghai, peas and tiny freshwater shrimp is a famous local specialty; the luxurious dish is cooked in a little chicken stock and finished off and enriched with some tasty rendered chicken fat.
*For recipes that call for frozen peas, replace with an equal amount of fresh peas. If the recipe calls for thawed frozen peas, replace them with cooked fresh peas.