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Cooking It Old School
I learned to love food from my mother's cooking when I was growing up. I became a avid home cook when I got out on my own and, thanks to persistence, enthusiasm and a few well-placed cooking school classes, I became pretty good at it.
That was fortunate, because my wife Barb and I, who have been together for a very long time, learned two things early on. First, we both love to eat. Second, only one of us loves to cook.
Along the way, I developed one particular kitchen quirk: I prepare almost everything by hand. I have excellent knife skills and I'm not afraid to use them. I only have a mini-food processor and it's rarely used.
I spend so much time in the kitchen slicing and dicing that Barb and I have a long-running joke that I may be part Amish. That's why, when I'm busy at the kitchen counter, I often find Weird Al Yankovich's "Amish Paradise" — a parody of rap artist Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" — running through my head, with its lyric, "I've churned butter once or twice, living in an Amish paradise."
Sure, buying veggies and fruit that are already prepped and cut for you is super-convenient and if that's your ticket to eating healthier, then go for it. I just love to handle food so much that I guess you can call it my hobby.
It's also therapeutic. I'm a busy boy and I spend the bigger parts of my days multi-tasking. So there is a certain Zen, a rhythm to cutting up food. It is truly the most mindful thing that I do.
All this is preface to saying that I really look forward to the regrettably short local growing season of English shelling peas. Breaking into dozens of pods and liberating the peas inside is definitely some old school food prep.
As you'll see in the very short video Barb shot, it is literally easy peasy. Each pod has a seam that yields easily to pressure. You just have to avoid pressing too hard, so the peas don't try to make an escape by bouncing all over the kitchen.
Here's the end result...
Since I was doing this at lunchtime, I prepared some quinoa while I was pea-ing to use in a grain bowl. I sprinkled a few raw peas in with the quinoa, added some leftover roasted broccoli, a diced hakurei turnip, and some sheep's milk feta.
Lunch doesn't get a lot healthier than that.
Then I took the freshly shelled peas (plus some that were pre-shelled and in the fridge), and tossed then in a pan with some olive oil. After sautéeing for a few minutes, I added a splash of water and then covered the pan to let the peas braise.
That's because if you just sauté, the peas stay a bit crunchy, with a texture much like cooked frozen peas. Barb is more of a canned-pea fan, and the braising results in a softer texture. Stir occasionally until the water is nearly evaporated; sprinkle with a bit of salt, garlic powder and dill (or whatever you prefer), and you have some delicious, bright green beauty on your plate.
But that's just me. If you have a fresh pea recipe you call your own, send it to me at bob@localfoodforum.com and I'll share it with the world.
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