Sauté of Spring Peas in Lemon Butter

From The Urban Cook, Mark Jensen, Murdoch Books, 2011.

I was going to cook a frittata and wanted an accompanying vegetable dish so chose this one.

Into a pot of a small amount of boiling salted water I tossed a few sugar snap peas (topped and tailed), an equal amount of snow peas (also topped and tailed) and about the same amount of frozen peas (defrosted). I gave them two minutes and then drained them in a colander, refreshing them with cold water until their heat had diminished. They were then left to drain.

In a frying pan I heated up a quantity of butter and then put in a crushed garlic clove. As soon as it started to bubble a little I added the peas and tossed them around to warm through. I then squeezed a lemon over the vegetables, sprinkled over some salt and pepper and then poured them into a serving dish.

To the peas I added chopped parsley, a little chopped oregano, some lemon zest and a chopped red chilli. Some dried ricotta was now crumbled over and it was ready to eat.

There was a wonderful freshness about this vegetable dish. The peas were sweet and still had a little crunch to them. The lemon juice added a sharp tang and the chilli pieces occasionally hit the tongue with a little heat.

This is my first success from this book which I must confess I generally avoid because of its look and the difficulty of reading the recipes overprinted across dark backgrounds.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔