Petits Pois à l'ancienne (Garden Peas à la française)


This traditional French recipe for cooking fresh garden peas makes a wonderful accompaniment for roast chicken, turkey, veal or pork. It is easy to prepare and you can even cheat with either French-style tinned petits pois, which come in a sweetened liquid, or with frozen peas (see 3 below).

Serves 4

Ingredients

4 lbs fresh Peas in the pod
1 Cos Lettuce or 2 small Sweet Romaine lettuces
1 bunch small new Onions (or 1 large onion)
1 & 1/2 tbsp Sugar
2 tbsp Butter
1 Bouquet garni
Water or Stock
Salt and freshly ground Pepper for seasoning

Preparation

1. Shell the peas. Clean the onions, remove the green part of the stork and then halve vertically. (If using a mature onion, trim and slice vertically). Wash the lettuce and slice the leaves at about 1 inch intervals.

2. Gently sweat the onions for a few minutes in the butter with the bouquet garni but do not golden or brown. Sprinkle with the sugar then add the peas and lettuce leaves in alternate layers seasoning the peas with pepper and salt each time. Pour in sufficient water or stock for the simmering liquid to cook the top layer of peas and cook gently for about 30 minutes or until tender.

3. If using frozen peas, follow the same procedures as above. If using tinned petits pois, proceed in the same manner for the onions, then add the lettuce and pour over the liquid from the can. When the lettuce is cooked, add the peas and heat through until hot without boiling.

Presentation

1. To serve, remove the bouquet garni and present in a serving dish, but do not drain. The sweet cooking juices will blend very well with the gravies from the meat.