French for… green peas a la French! Green peas are a staple of British cuisine. Curiously enough, the French thought they should have their own way of cooking peas and serve them neither steamed nor mushed. This is what they came up with.
Paul Vigneux's home-grown petits pois à la française. Photo by Penny Pierce, Lakefield, ON
Slice 3 green onions and put them in a pot with 3 cups of green peas and a good
Butter lettuce
chunk of butter + a tbsp olive oil. Add butter lettuce leaves (preferably the smaller leaves from the centre), salt. Cook covered until the peas are tender. The flavor of the peas is enhanced by the lettuce, an amazing combination.
Options: some recipes add a tsp of sugar, I think that’s too British, some add mint, way too British, some add lardons, not British but not my preference as they overwhelm the peas especially if they are fresh. I guess lardons are okay on frozen peas.
Fresh peas have arrived at the Root Cellar on Mackenzie in Victoria, BC
The Cooking Frog's Blog 
Paul made the peas last night, and they were brilliant! The peas and lettuce were fresh from the garden. It didn’t rain so he didn’t have to run this time! At present we also have lots of baby beets, which I roast or steam. What do you do? I remember a memorable meal that you cooked at the house in the country: roasted beef and beets, with an amazing sauce that had flavour of both. Ratatouille on the side I think. And topped off by a Dunnery pie made with wild berries. With three kids still at home, it was a while ago!
Penny
Penny , Fresh peas are my favorite vegetable. I will have to think about the beets. Have you tried the beet+potato salad? I will try to post more beet recipes, but for now you can try the sorrel recipe with the greens. That will be on Friday at 7am pst.thanks for the comments. Send your pictures.
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