by Linda on November 21, 2011
Thanks to all those who commented. You made my mind up for me! I resolved the eat-it-or-plant-it dilemma by splitting the difference. I saved some for seed, not enough for the whole of next year’s planting, which will give me a good excuse to keep looking for the variety I lost a few years ago, but enough plant a couple of rounds. Not enough to grow snow pea sprouts, but I like that idea so much I’m going to deliberately grow enough for sprouting next year, but start sprouting them a bit earlier while the weather is still cool enough.
So after putting this little bag aside, I cooked up the rest. They made a lovely little tub of hummus that we’ll eat on our sandwiches for lunch all week. Hummus is really low GI, so it’s a good breakfast or lunch food, keeps your blood sugar nice and high and stable. Combined with the grain in bread, it’s a pretty complete protein, and a good source of lots of vitamins and minerals. Peas are also rich in a phytonutrient called coumestrol, which is good for preventing osteoporosis along with several kinds of cancer, and lowering cholesterol at the same time.
The Recipe:
Cook ¾ cup of dried peas – traditionally chick peas (garbanzos), but you can use any kind of pea – till very soft. This is fastest in a pressure cooker, but just boiling works fine. How long it will take depends on how fresh the peas are. The older and drier they are, the longer they will take. These ones were quite dry but relatively fresh, and they took 20 minutes in the pressure cooker.
If you use a pressure cooker, don’t overfill it and don’t turn it up too high. The peas have skins that separate from them and can clog up the pressure valve if they boil too furiously.
When the peas are cooked, drain them but keep the liquid.
Use a stick blender, blender, food processor, or a mouli to blend the cooked peas with with:
- 2 dessertspoons of tahini
- 2 dessertspoons of lemon juice
- 2 cloves garlic
- salt to taste
- enough of the pea cooking water to make it a smooth paste consistency. (If I am making it for a dip, I add a bit more and make it a little thinner than if I am making it for a spread).
by Linda on September 22, 2011
I picked the first of the peas this morning (late because the mice got so many of the early plantings) and I have been waiting for them for just this recipe. Super fast and easy, very low GI, very delicious. Very fresh peas are so sweet, this is almost a sweet paste spread. Besides all the usual legume nutrients, peas are rich in a phytonutrient called coumestrol, which is good for preventing osteoporosis along with several kinds of cancer, and lowering cholesterol at the same time.
(The Breakfast Cereal Challenge is my 2011 challenge – a year’s worth of breakfast recipes based on in-season ingredients, that are quick and easy enough to be a real option for weekdays, and that are preferable, in nutrition, ethics, and taste, to the overpackaged, overpriced, mostly empty packets of junk food marketed as “cereal” .The Muesli Bar Challenge was my 2010 Challenge.)
The Recipe
For three laden slices of toast:
- Pressure cook two-thirds of a cup of fresh, shelled peas in ¼ cup of water with a pinch of salt for just 3 minutes. (Don’t go longer or the water will boil dry and they’ll burn). If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can simmer the peas in a bit more water, in a pot with a tight fitting lid, for about 9 minutes. You should end up with very soft peas and no water.
- Blend the cooked peas with a teaspoon of olive oil and quite a lot of fresh mint – I use about 20 leaves.
- Spread on good wholemeal toast and enjoy.
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by Linda on April 17, 2011
Today it’s wet and cold. All of a sudden the weather has changed and you can really feel the winter in the air. I guess it’s only a week and a half now until the southern hemisphere Halloween, which marks the last of the traditional autumn harvest festivals and the start the season of reflecting and remembering.
The solar hot water system wasn’t up to the job of creating a hot shower to come in to from a wet and muddy garden today, so I lit the slow combustion stove this morning. I have had the bread proving on the shelf above it and yoghurt in the warming oven all day, and now a tray of vegetables roasting in the oven. My son has been visiting and I waved him off with a “care package” of garden produce this morning, and we had friends visit and I made a garden salad for lunch. Just enough time this afternoon to plant the fruiting annual seeds in trays in the shadehouse.
I’ve planted a tray of Telephone peas, one of Oregon Dwarf Snow Peas, one of Diggers Climbing Snow Peas, and one of Aquadulce Broad Beans. The Aquadulce were chosen because they are an early variety, and this far north our broad bean season is short. The Oregon Dwarf are not really a dwarf – up to 1.5 metres tall according to the packet. I choose climbing varieties these days to make double use of my fortress fencing, but these are supposed to be mildew resistant, and I am hoping they are the variety that I lost year before last. Someone commented on that post that Oregon Dwarf had done really well for them in Melbourne. The Diggers are insurance – a tall climbing snow pea – because we like snow peas!
I have planted them in paper pots, (or tubes really) in a mixture of compost, creek sand and ash. I add quite a lot of wood ash to the mix for peas and beans – about two-thirds of a bucket for these four trays of mix. Peas and beans like a more alkali soil and ash helps bring the Ph up. I shall dig in a bit more ash when I plant them out in about a month’s time. For now all the fence-trellises are occupied with beans and cucumbers.
Ah Sunday!