It hasn’t been a typical spring. Just chilly all the time, so I was very impatient to get my garden growing. I was in Trader Joe’s for some olive oil, and I happened across a little bag of fresh peas. It’s not very often I see fresh, shelled peas in the grocery store. Never before, in fact. Even knowing they wouldn’t be as good as homegrown, I still had to try them. I found a promising recipe on Its A Veg World After All and thought it might be just the thing to make up for the fact the peas weren’t fresh from my garden. It did not disappoint! I’ve made very few adaptations. You can find the original recipe here.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

3 cloves of garlic

10 ounces (284 g, about 2 cups ) fresh, raw peas

1 shallot

½ ounce (14 g) freshly shredded Parmesan cheese

⅛ teaspoon sea salt

⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:

1.) Finely mince the shallots. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the shallots, and cook until they start to soften and become translucent.

2.) Finely mince or press the garlic and add it to the pan. Cook briefly, until garlic is fragrant and shallots are a bit brown. Remove from heat.

3.) Meanwhile, cook the peas. I usually cook peas with a steamer basket set in a saucepan with about half an inch (1 cm) water in the bottom. Once the water boils, the peas steam up perfectly in only two minutes. This time, since I found this cute “cook right in the bag” bag of peas, I used the microwave.

4.) Return the skillet to the heat and add the cooked peas, stirring to coat. Stir in the salt and pepper.  Transfer to a serving bowl and shower with the grated cheese.