A Two in One Post: Sugar Snap Peas, Anyone?

I am absolutely obsessed with sugar snap peas. They are bright green, crunchy sweet and absolutely delicious pea pods that can be cooked in various ways. The first time I had them was this past fall, when I went to the Farmer’s Market and I saw them on display. They looked good, and I asked what they were, and the man selling them actually gave me one to try. Strange, I never thought you could eat it raw, but it was actually quite good. And quite truthful to its name – it was sweet! So of course I added a bag of that to my usual veggies and I went home wondering how I was going to cook it. At first I thought I could just eat them raw, but then I really wanted to see how they taste cooked. So I looked up recipes and I was bombarded with different ways to cook them with rice and salads and more. It was really hard to decide. So I picked a simple stir-fry with oil, garlic, and lemon juice. I have to say, I finished about a pound of them that night. They were so good. Ever since then, I’ve been addicted to snap peas and I’ve been looking for other ways to cook them. I’ve noticed that many people blanch them, but for some reason whenever I hear the word ‘blanch’ I think of plain, boiled really not appetizing food. Don’t ask me where I got that idea. So a few days ago, I was at the East End Food Coop, and I saw that they were selling snap peas. I got so excited that I bought 3 pounds and rushed home, trying to find an interesting recipe I could use to blog about. And I found a few. But I decided on two of them – Bobby Flay’s Jasmine Rice Salad with Snap Peas Recipe and Ina Garten’s Sugar Snap Peas with sesame recipe.  As I said, I love to try new recipes so I was ecstatic when I found these two. Yet, when I was reading under how to prepare the dish in Ina Garten’s recipe, I found that it called for blanched snap peas! As I just mentioned, I really don’t like the idea of blanching the peas, so I decided to do a stir-fry. I really like how both recipes turned out, so I would definitely recommend them! 

Here’s what you need for my take on Ina Garten’s Sugar Snap Peas with Sesame recipe:

1 pound sugar snap peas

Sesame oil

Olive oil

Sesame seeds

 1 red bell pepper

½ an orange

½ a lemon

2 cloves garlic

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Procedure: Rinse snap peas and take off the stem. If you’re not sure how to do this, click on this quick video --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBdqiNsB1no

Don't they look so pretty and bright? :-) I love snap peas

Take a wok (or any pan if you don’t have one) and coat the bottom with some olive oil. Mince the garlic and cook the garlic for about 1 minute before adding the snap peas. 

Let the peas stir fry for about 4-5 minutes, add some lemon rind and then add the sliced red peppers. Add the sesame seeds and begin to make the ‘dressing.’ 

I like to call it a dressing, but really all it is, is a citrus sauce for the snap peas. Squeeze the orange and lemon with 1 tsp of olive oil and 2 tsps sesame oil. Pour that into the wok and after a few seconds you can pour the snap peas into a dish and eat! 

This is a quick and simple dish that can be a snack a side dish or an hors d'oeuvre. And most importantly – it is delicious! 

Now to the slightly more complicated dish, yet still simple.

Bobby Flay’s Jasmine Rice Salad with Snap Peas:

You can find the ingredients here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/jasmine-rice-salad-with-snap-peas-recipe/index.html

(I used snap peas instead of snow peas and similar to what I did in the previous recipe, I stir fried them in another pan with the carrots and some extra garlic and olive oil)

First clean the snap peas. In a pan, cook the onions, garlic, cumin, nutmeg, coriander and ginger with the oil for about 1 or 2 minutes. (Don’t worry if they aren’t cooked all the way, it’s just to get the flavors out; we will be cooking them more later). 

Now put the uncooked rice in, yes you heard me right, uncooked, and coat it with the spices and the oil. Then add 4 cups of water (not five like the recipe says, I used four, but if you don’t trust that then just use the amount it says on you bag of rice) into the pan and bring it to a boil. Once it has reached a boil, cover the pot and let it cook for however long it says on your package of rice. While the rice is cooking, stir fry the snap peas in a separate pan with the julienne carrot and another clove of garlic with some olive oil. Turn off the peas after they are done.  When the rice is done, add the snap peas into the pan, and mix in the chopped parsley. 

Stir well and serve. I really liked this dish because first of all it tasted wonderful (the spices really do make such a big difference) and it is a full meal. I will definitely make this again and I’m really excited to use other vegetables with this as well. 

It’s a great recipe and I hope you enjoy making it! I also hope after reading this blog you will buy and make some snap peas if you have never had them because they are amazing!