Summer Pea Salad

One of my favorite quick snacks (especially in the winter) is a big bowl of piping hot peas (formerly frozen), heavily dusted with finely grated Parmesan. I steam or microwave an entire bag of frozen peas, generously sprinkle the grated cheese on top, and devour the entire bowl within minutes.

With summer buzzing along, I’ve kept a keen eye out for fresh peas from the farmer’s market, more so since I didn’t grow my own this year. There’s just too much going on, and summer is going by so fast.

As soon as I get my hands on them, I eat fresh peas raw, English or snap, straight out of the shell, or sometimes I chow down the shell and all. I try, but I have little patience to wait until I get home and dress them up.

But, patience persevered  last week so that I could share this recipe. I’ve done all the preparation to enjoy a fresh pea salad with a light dressing, hard-boiled egg, and aged cheese. Feel free to play around with this and try it with a mayonnaise-based dressing, or even a honey mustard dressing.

Summer Pea Salad

If you don’t have enough fresh shelled peas, you can add frozen peas to this recipe. Also, I like to mix up part grated and part shaved cheese so there are bites of cheese throughout. To hard boil eggs, bring about 4 cups of water to a steady boil, place the eggs in the boiling water for 15 minutes, then take them out and cool down immediately in cold water.  Cool the hard-boiled eggs in ice water before using in this recipe.

Ingredients

• 3 cups of shelled peas (fresh or frozen)
• 2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped into bite size pieces
• 1 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon of olive oil
• sea salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/2 cup of  shaved or grated pecorino Romano (or you can substitute , Parmesan, Asiago, or Spanish Manchego)
• a tablespoon of  fresh chopped herbs or herb flowers (optional)

 Method

1. Bring 3 cups of water to a boil in a saucepan.
2. Add the peas and boil for 2 minutes (alternatively, you can steam the peas). If you’re using fresh English peas, or you prefer more tender peas, you may want to boil a few minutes longer to soften them.
3. Drain and cool the peas.
4. Add the peas to a bowl and blend in lemon juice, olive oil, 1/4 cup of the cheese, half of the chopped egg, and a dash of salt and pepper.
5. Plate the peas and top with remaining egg and cheese, and the chopped herbs.

Serves 4 small plates