SNAPS for sugar snaps

When I was a child, there was a favorite cereal called "Sugar Snaps." It was undoubtedly ghastly, nutritionally and just about any other way you could think of it, but we all liked it, the dentists got rich, and I still have the taste of those crunchy, sweet morsels in my mouth. I wonder if the developers of sugar snap peas had that cereal in mind.

I say "developers" because when I was growing up, there was no such thing as sugar snap peas. In fact, I don't recall seeing them until I was in law school. Perhaps I'm wrong, but then again, I've led a very sheltered life, and they may have been there, waiting to surprise me, and never got the change. Legumes are like that you know.

Ok, I lied about that. But I didn't know about the sugar snaps until law school or maybe even after that. I remembered reading that they were a cross of Asian snow peas, and the "common" English or pod pea. (Interestingly, without even knowing it, I am yet again treading into the promiscuous world of vegetables and fruit). I don't know if this was a controlled mating, or if it happened by happenstance, but I suspect it was the former. I can't think of a situation where a farm would grow both varieties, but again, someone may prove me wrong.

Sugar snaps are one of the earliest of the vegetables in any climate - even before pod peas and snow peas. The first ones of the season showed up yesterday, and of course, Annalena, who spends her lunch hour haunting farmers' markets (I know, I know, I need a life), pounced on them, immediately displacing asparagus from her plans for tonight's dinner vegetable (roast chicken, the snap peas, and saffron rice. Don't that sound yummy?).

You know these guys. These are the peas where you can eat the pod (you can eat the pod on English peas too, you just need to know how to cook them. More on that when they come into season). But like regular peas, they need some prep work. They do have a string down their middle, which is too tough to eat, will floss your teeth if you try, and is just downright unpleasant. So when you buy them, take the little end that looks like it was attached to the plant, hold it between your fingers, and pull down. You'll get the hang of it and it will move quickly, but you DO need to do this (if you find a vendor that is advertising that they've done it for you already, skip the convenience. Those peas have already lost their freshness).

It's also important to buy these guys in season. That means NOW. As the spring turns into summer, they get bigger, and tougher and the pods are very nasty tasting. You CAN shuck them and use the peas, but what you'll find is that these are really "all about" the pod. The peas themselves are very shriveled and tiny. Buy them when they're bright, pale green, and small. And taste them before you buy. You should get a rush of a sugar flavor, followed by the "green" taste that you associate with fresh peas .

Now, how do you prepare them? Well, this is an interesting question, because I have had to break with what I was taught. When I first bought sugar snaps, the standard instructions were to boil them, in salted water, for 5-6 minutes. I did that for a while, and always wondered if I were missing something, because they just tasted, well, BLECH to me. But I carried on, because this was how we were supposed to eat. OK. I've eaten things I didn't like, some of them even inanimate, because I was supposed to (that's my next blog, gentle reader), and just went along with it.

Then, in the early -mid 90s, I was reading an article on "what's wrong with sugar snap peas." (Yes, I know, I know. I need a life). The article instructed that we were cooking the peas too long, and that they should never be cooked for more than three minutes. AH! Here was the answer to the problem. I KNEW I was cooking them too long. So I immediately bought a pound of snap peas and cooked them for three minutes as instructed.

And they tasted exactly like the ones that I had been making at 7 minutes.

Well, then Annalena turned her incredible powers of inductive and deductive reasoning (stop snickering), to this issue. Since they had Asian parentage, and Asian vegetable cooking calls for minimal time in the pan, was it perhaps the case that 3 minutes was even too long? So, another pound of snaps came home, and another pot of water went to the boil, and this time, Annlena took out peas at 30 seconds, 1 minute 2 minutes and 3 minutes.

1 minute was perfect. 30 seconds was good, but more warm and raw than cooked (which is fine). 2 and 3 minutes were not good at all. So, here's Annalena's advise: salted water, at the boil, one minute, drain them. Just as they go from bright green to a darker green. You retain the sugar flavor in them, you retain the crispness, and you will not begin singing that wonderful Peggy Lee song "Is that all there is?" (Annalena finds herself singing that song a lot, but usually in the Bette Midler arrangement. It suits her voice better).

So after you've cooked them for a minute, what next? Well, like all members of the pea and green bean family, snap peas are fabulous with a lump of butter, and/or a bit of fresh mint. They are also superb with lemon. In fact, they take to just about anything you can mix them with. Fresh ginger is nice. If you cook them and let them get cold, you can combine them with some cherry tomatoes, halved. One of the nicest lunches I ever had was a mix of these guys with cherry tomatoes, red and golden, and Italian tuna packed in olive oil. Snap peas make a wonderful vegetable salad, as discussed in the following.

One of my favorite restaurants, and one of everyone's favorite restaurants, is Union Square Cafe. We frequently go there for Guy's birthday dinner. It's celebratory as well as informal. Annalena was extremely miffed one year, however, when it was Guy's 50th birthday and the hostess asked her "well, you must be the birthday boy, because this gentleman CANNOT be fifty."

HARUMPH.

Well, the kitchen was on good behavior, and they had a salad on the menu that was memorable. I requested the recipe, and I got it. And when I took it home, I modified it, as explained below. You should make this. I am making lunch for my friend David on Saturday, and I may put this on the plate with the rest of the food.

You start with a pound of snap peas, which you cook as per the instructions above (and I will point out that, in the Union Square recipe, they warn against cooking for more than a minute. Annlena was VINDICATED). Then you shock them in cold ice water to stop the cooking. This is a good step, but not really all that necessary. I think restaurants do it because they're not going to get to the final step until later, but if you're moving along in the kitchen, and you don't want to dirty another bowl and/or take up space, leave this step out. But DO pat them dry.

Union Square then advises us to julienne cut the snap peas.

Right.

Perhaps your fingers are small enough to do this and you have the patience. Annalena's arent and she doesn't, so I just cut them at a diagonal into halves and thirds. Then, prepare a dressing of sherry vinegar, salt, a bit of mustard, and olive oil. How much of each is really to your taste. The sherry vinegar is sweet, but the sweetness is different from the peas. You can substitute something else if you want, but I would stick to the sweet end of things. If you don't have sherry vinegar, how about balsamic? Or perhaps apple cider? After you've whisked the dressing, toss the snap peas into it.

THEN.... add some crumbled ricotta salata cheese. Not a lot, just a bit, and serve the thing forth, preferably with some flatbread or crackers.

I will tell you, this is sugar snap peas , canonized. They are SO good this way. And if you feel like playing with the recipe, you have leave to add something like asparagus, or fava beans, or peas, or any or all of them. This would be good with cherry tomatoes as well.

I am thinking of tossing this together, in fact, as an interesting filling for a pita sandwich. If I do that, I will probably add more cheese to give it some "oomph" as a lunch dish.

So there they are. A new vegetable makes its appearance at the farmers' market, and a day later, Annalena is helping you along. I hope you are grateful .