Blistered Peas-In-The-Pod With Lemon And Salt
I went to the small Greenmarket in my neighborhood yesterday with no plan except to buy more cucumbers and cherries and hoped I’d find something inspiring. I was filling my bag with three types of zucchini, peaches, onions, sugar snaps, green and yellow beans, beefsteak tomatoes, and fresh peas when I spotted the chef-owner of a favorite neighborhood restaurant across the table. As I am incapable of not excitedly prattling on about cooking the moment I see the smallest even totally unsolicited opportunity to, I asked what he was planning to do with the romano beans he was bagging (pressure cook, it turns out — so cool!) and I was about to ask him if he’d ever grilled peas in their pods whole and eaten them like edamame… and abruptly realized that I don’t think I’ve ever told you that we should be grilling peas in their pods whole and eating them like edamame. So I rushed home to do just that, delighted to have succeeded in finding something to keep my focus on work for the rest of the afternoon.
That’s it, by the way; that’s the recipe. I first spotted the method in Susan Spungen’s Open Kitchen cookbook years ago and it remains a favorite because it’s wildly simple. The peas cook perfectly inside the pod without ever getting mushy. I don’t use a vegetable grilling basket since they’re large enough to easily stretch across grates. And the salty charred-edge sweet-centered results turn people who think they don’t like peas into people who lick a plate of them clean. It’s a fun thing to bring to a barbecue, as I will this afternoon so everyone can eat them hot off the grill.
Ingredients:
- 1 pound fresh English or sweet peas, still in their pods
- Olive oil
- Salt
- Freshly ground black pepper or red pepper flakes
- Finely grated zest and a few wedges of one lemon
- Handful mint leaves, chopped (optional)
- 1/2 cup crumbled ricotta salata or feta (optional)