Give Peas a Chance!

Peas!

Yesterday the idea of a subtle seasonal shift in the garden was discussed through the lens of basil. Today to add to that feeling of shift is the harvest of peas. The growing of peas takes place during those cool early garden months. But the harvest of these sweet morsels occurs during the heat of the stereotypical summer garden. A common goal of New England gardeners is to have corn knee high and eating peas by the 4th of July. Thanks to the use of a special bird repellent milar tape that I purchased from Johnny's Selected Seeds in Winslow the corn this year is knee high! We out smarted those blasted crows! In the past I've had to plant and replant corn because crows keep pulling the seedlings out of the ground as they emerge. Not this year! Here's a photo of what Johnny's calls Bird Scare Flash Tape. It's only $6.00 and the best $6.00 I've spent on critter control.

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-5441-bird-scare-flash-tape.aspx

Today we had a yard sale so I didn't get out into the garden except to pick peas. We had salmon with garlic scape pesto over it, spiced rice and peas, and a garden salad with, of course, peas. The recipe for garlic scape pesto is in another post. Just use the search bar to find it. Here's a recipe for the spiced rice and peas, taken from my summer time staple cookbook, The Victory Garden Cookbook. It's easy to use this cookbook. When you have peas that you want to use up you just look up peas. The recipes are listed alphabetically by vegetable. So I looked up peas and found this recipe.
Spiced Rice and Peas:
1 Cup of Shelled peas (I prefer to use 2 cups, 1 just isn't enough)
3/4 cup chopped onion
6 Tbsp butter ( I prefer to use extra virgin olive oil)
1 Tbsp finely minced garlic ( can certainly use scapes!)
10 whole cardamom seeds
10 whole allspice berries
10 whole cloves
1 inch cinnamon stick
3 cups rice (this is a really lot so if you don't want this much just 1/2 the recipe)
6 cups combination of veggie broth and water (you could use chicken broth too)
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup sliced almonds
**Pick and shell the peas....blanch them and set aside. To blanch- bring water in pan to boil, put peas in, bring back to boil and remove from heat and drain immediately! Rinse in cold water and let sit a bit in cold water. Set aside.
**Chop onion and saute in olive oil until wilted in a REALLY large pot! Add garlic and spices and cook another 5 minutes. Stir in rice (uncooked rice) and saute 5 more minutes.
**Add hot water/broth, cover, bring to boil, simmer until liquid is absorbed. Follow cooking times on rice container.
**As rice cooks - soak raisins in some boiling water for 5 minutes to plump them up - drain and set aside.
** Then saute almonds in some (2 Tbsp) olive oil until brown.
**When rice is done add the raisins and almonds, stirring well and cooking until heated through.
** Add the peas and heat a bit more.
This makes a ton! I made this and since there is so much extra I will make a rice, Maine shrimp, and peas scampi type dish. I usually do this with linguine but will try it with this rice since I have so much.
Note: the rice tasted really flavorful.

That's it. So grab yourself some fresh peas and enjoy!
Happy Gardening and 4th of July,
Mary
PS - Another simple way to eat peas: blanched peas with butter and minced fresh spearmint is DELICIOUS!