Wow, peas! Now what?

[the_MU]

For the first time, we successfully grew enough green peas that we have some left over after eating as many of them straight from the pods as we wanted. What are some vegetarian ways to prepare them without overwhelming their flavor? I can always cook them with butter and herbs, but what else can we do?

[BamiaWruz]

An egyptian recipe is to stew the peas in tomato sauce, with or without meat, I've seen it cooked with ground beef in the sauce and served with rice. It's a traditional recipe we make from time to time and also a personal preference is adding a dash of cinnamon to the green pea tomato stew.

[seagrace]

My snap peas rarely make it into the house from the garden, I just munch the entire pod and peas in the garden. But I like shelling peas fresh sprinkled on a salad. More starchy ones are lovely blanched and turned into a lovely pea dip with mint or a wonderful pea and mint soup with cream. I find fresh mint an essential ingredient with peas. If I have access to a lot of them I add them to my tabbouleh or lasagna.

[PAO]

I have been in a fresh pea extravaganza for the past few weeks. Don't limit yourself to side dishes. Try pasta primavera with fresh peas. Indian dishes include fresh peas--am going to make potatoes and peas with an Indian recipe tonight. Main dish salads. Soups. Risottos. Risi e bisi, an Italian rice and fresh pea "soup" (not quite a risotto) can be wonderful.

[boyzoma]

Make a layered salad. Start with a layer of lettuce, then green onion, red pepper, diced water chestnuts, celery then fresh peas. Cover with a lite layer of mayo, a tbs. sugar and then Parmesan cheese. Cover and then place in refrig. overnight. Love peas in this salad.

[grayelf]

I recently tried a recipe that calls for Boston lettuce and peas over pasta. Talk about a bowl of summer. Yum.

[Dan G]

pea and mint risotto...my dinner 4 nights in the past week (love having fresh peas!).

[flueln]

Recipe, please?

[valerie]

I love this pea dip with parmesan...I leave out the mint, though.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/din...

[Gio]

Melt 1 or 2 T of unsalted butter in a skillet over a moderately high heat. Add the white parts of a few thinly sliced scallions and cook till tender. Stir in 2 cups of shredded green lettuce, and stir fry for about a minute or so. Add 1 lb. shelled peas and about 1/4 cup chicken stock. Simmer uncovered till most of the liquid has evaporated. At the end stir in the green parts of the scallions which have been thinly sliced and taste for seasoning. Adjust with salt if necessary.

[Harters]

Best way of ensuring you enjoy the flavour of peas (and the OP is so lucky to have the freshness of home-grown) is straight from the pod and add as a salad ingredient. For cooked peas, we'd do nothing more than a couple of minutes or so boiling. Anything else is a distraction.

[the_MU]

Just cooked a cup of them for 2 min, added small knob of butter & some salt. I'm eating them now. Because I can. There are lots more.

[Cherylptw]

Add some quartered red or white potatoes and chopped onions to a pot of water or veggie stock; simmer until the potatoes are almost fork tender. Stir in the peas, s & p, fresh thyme (dried will do) and add a pat of butter. Cook another couple of minutes then spoon into a bowls with some of their juices. Serve with a biscuit or a wedge of cornbread.

Another way I like to make them is to make a cream sauce with smoked gouda & peas. Toss with penne.

[enbell]

Fresh pea soup
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/fresh-p...

[ursy_ten]

Yes! I recently discovered this very recipe - we love it! I've made it twice in the past week.
Added a little thyme and sauteed garlic and a teeny dash of brandy, plus some chicken stock powder for some added flavour. I think it at least needs the stock powder.

[nickblesch]

They make a great hummus-style spread:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo...

I've also seen them blended with a bit of cream and herbs to make a tasty pasta sauce that can be fairly light if you don't go overboard with the cream and use a bit of stock and the pasta cooking water to get the consistency you want.

[Ali]

Along these lines, pea pesto is an absolutely amazing summer treat. The key is to have slightly starchy peas (or at least I like them that way). Then add cheese and oil - parm & extra virgin olive oil are my choices but I imagine you can get pretty creative with this. Last night, I added fish sauce in addition to salt, but you can just add extra cheese (the cravaro parmesan I got ended up being so good that I couldn't bring myself to add to the peas so the fish sauce added the necessary umami edge). Garlic and nuts, per a traditional basil pesto, are optional.

Spread on crusty, chewy toasted bread. Add a nice glass of vino.

[BigSal]

Mame Gohan - green peas with rice. It is a very delicately flavored dish that is especially good with fresh peas.

[andrewtree]

Petits pois a la Francaise, basically peas simmered with green onion and lettuce, a delicious if unlikely sounding combination, option to use stock, add herbs/garlic etc. Lots of recipes online.

[Quine]

Freeze some! In the dead light of winter, you will be glad you did. Do baby peas as well.