The pick-your-own garden at our CSA Sunrise Farm is twisted with beautiful pea vines right now! Both snow peas and snap peas are on the menu, and I’m delighted to see both of them. They’re two of the three legumes—green beans/wax beans are the other one—that are paleo-friendly (because they’re more pod than pea… YAY!).
Snow peas, a.k.a, Chinese pea pods, are the flat ones with the teeny-tiny peas inside. Snap peas, a.k.a., sugar snap peas, are actually a cross between snow peas and garden peas. I love the crunchy texture of snap peas with those plump pearls of sweetness inside.
Although both types of edible-pod peas usually show up in recipes for Asian stir-fries, between us friends, I usually just eat my snap peas au natural because they’re so tasty just as they are. But that’s hardly a recipe.
Ingredients: snap peas
Directions: Wash and eat.
So here’s something with a bit more inspiration, something you can share with guests or use to turn a regular dinner into something special. This recipe tastes like summer sunshine: crisp, light, and lemony.
It’s also got a kick of mint! There is a gorgeous patch of vibrant green mint growing under the tree behind the barn at the farm, and I found it irresistible. Fresh mint simultaneously reminds me of my dad and my Lebanese great-grandmother, two of the best people to ever walk (and cook) on this plant. And since everything tastes better when nuts are involved, I added crunchy pistachios to the mix, although you can certainly leave them out, or replace them with walnuts or hazelnuts, if pistachios aren’t your thing.
Tell us what you think!