Some thoughts on peas…

I was going to call this something like ‘Give peas a chance’ or ‘To pea or not to pea’ but decided against setting the bar too high in the first edition of the newsletter. It would only lead to disappointment when future titles didn’t live up to expectations.

Peas are one of those ubiquitous, non-seasonal vegetables. They’re available year-round courtesy of the freezer section at the supermarket. But if you’ve never tipped peas into your mouth directly from a freshly picked pod (and by freshly picked I mean within seconds of it leaving the plant), you’re missing out on a truly magnificent taste experience. The sugars in peas are converted to starch within hours of harvest, so fresher really is better.

On growing peas…

Peas, on the whole, are easy to grow. The need good soil and a sunny spot. The seeds are big (pea-sized) and easy to sow, either in pots or direct into the ground. The key thing is not to sow until the soil has warmed a little in spring – the seeds will simply sit and rot if it’s cold.

Choosing which peas to grow is maybe the hardest part. Seed catalogues list endless varieties with different growth habits, disease resistance and pod colours. There are dwarf varieties for pots, tall varieties that will give you a longer harvesting season and heirloom varieties that come with stories of who grew them through the generations. These last ones are my favourites. This year I’m growing Gravedigger peas for the Heritage Seed Library. They came to the seed library through a gardener who was given the seed by a Warwickshire farmer. But the pea was originally grown by a gravedigger in Oxfordshire. If the history wasn’t enough to entice me to grow them, the promise of easy to grow plants and juicy, flavoursome peas sealed it.

On pea shoots…

They’re everywhere now – on sandwiches and avocado on toast in cafes, in bags at the supermarket, and all over Instagram. As with mature peas, freshly harvested is best. Grow a punnet on your windowsill and harvest pea shoots within a couple of weeks. One top tip… save some money by using the dried peas you can buy in a box from the supermarket. Cheaper than a packet of seeds, but just as good.

On eating peas…

I learned from Antonio Carluccio’s wonderful book ‘Vegetables’ that peas have been a staple of the human diet since the Stone Age. Back then it was dried peas, eaten as an important source of protein. Peas to eat fresh were bred in Italy during the sixteenth century. Plant breeding since then has given us mange tout, petits pois, snow peas and sugar snap peas. And yet, with all this variety, my go-to dish for peas is simply boiling them from frozen as a last minute veg!

If you aren’t growing your own, frozen is the second best. Getting them chilled in as short a time as possible after harvest slows the conversion of sugars to starch. And, to be fair, they are very convenient from the freezer.

Peas appear in dishes from cuisines around the world – risi e bisi from Italy, petits pois a la francaise from France, aloo matar from India and colchón de arvejas from Argentina. And then, of course, there’s the classic dish of mushy peas available from fish and chip shops across the UK.

My current favourite way with peas (beyond boiled and drained) is this generous dish of spinach and rocket with peas and herbs, topped with creamy baked feta and dressed with oil and lemon.

Peas, greens and feta

200g feta

drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, plus 3 tablespoons for dressing

finely grated zest of 1 lemon

pinch of Aleppo chilli flakes

300g frozen peas

a large handful of spinach and/or rocket leaves

1 red onion, finely chopped

small bunch fresh applemint leaves

small bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley

juice of 1 lemon

sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper

10 (roughly) fresh chives, finely chopped

Place the feta in baking dish. Drizzle with the oil and sprinkle over the lemon zest and chili flakes. Cover with foil and bake at about 200C for 10-25 minutes – until warmed through and creamy in texture.

Meanwhile, bring the peas to the boil, then drain and leave to cool a little.

Put the spinach and rocket leaves in the bottom of a serving bowl, tearing any large leaves into small pieces. Mix the onion and herbs through the leaves. Add the peas and dress the salad with lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.

Place the baked feta on top of the bed of leaves and peas, pouring any remaining oil from the baking dish over the top and finishing with the chopped chives. Serve immediately with thick slices of freshly baked focaccia to feed 3 (hungry) or 4 people.