Peas Out! Summer Super Foods

I simply just love cooking in the summer time. Everything is fresh, flavourful, green, clean and light.

The past years I have become more aware of buying organic, local-ish and most importantly: seasonal. This way I can (to some extend) limit the preservatives in the food I eat as well as keeping the greens as true to nature as possible, having not been artificially grown and matured.

The best thing is to pick the freshies up yourself directly from the garden or a farm in the country side!

In my parents summer garden we grow peas, apples, gooseberries, redberries, rhubarbs and a thousand different herbs - always ripe for the pick. Yum!

Right now, Denmark is experiencing a peak of peas. This post is dedicated to the little round and sweet green lump of delight and its versatile ways (combined with a few other seasonal favorites of mine).

I'll give you four self-invented and composed recipes involving peas and other seasonal summer super foods. 

1. Strawberry and fennel salad - with PEAS
2. Avocado and melon salad - with PEAS
3. Asian inspired pea purée
4. Pea soup a la R&V 

Enjoy!

Strawberry and fennel salad with peas

• 2 lumps of fennel
• 500 g fresh strawberries (Danish, preferably) 
• 500 g fresh green peas (with pods)
• a few handfulls of field salad leaves
• 2 organic lime
• a handfull fresh mint leaves or sage
• a drop of honey
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• fresh ground pepper 

How to:

• Grate the zest of the limes and mix with the lime juice, honey, olive oil, vinegar and pepper.
• Rinse the fennel and cut into large slices. Marinate in the lime dressing for a few hours in the fridge.
• Rinse and slice the strawberries, de-pod the peas, tear the mint leaves and the salad. Mix with the marinated fennel. 
• Serve

Melon and avocado salad with peas

• 2 avocados
• 1 melon (cantaloupe/honey or half/half)
• 500 g green peas (in pods)
• 250 g field salad
• fresh herbs of your preference (I've used either mint or a mix of rosemary/thyme/basil, depending on what I am serving the salad with)
• 50 g roasted pine nuts
• 1 organic lemon + zest
• oilve oil
• salt and pepper

How to:

• Roast the pine nuts lightly on a dry pan and let them cool.
• Cut avocado and melon into cubes and mix with de-podded peas. 
• Mix a dressing of lemon juice and -zest, olive oil, salt and pepper and pour it over the avocado-melon-pea-mix.
• Rinse and tear the salad and herbs and serve with a sprinkle of pine nuts.

Asian inspired pea purée

This is another recent self-composed favorite of mine. Imagine sushi-flavoured humus (in the best possible way)

• As many peas as you want (frozen works too, as do edamame beans)
• Lime juice and zest (organic)
• Wasabi paste
• 1-2 tsp soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp fish sauce

How to:

• Put all ingredients in a blender and blend to an even mass
• Taste and cool
• Serve as a garnish for or fish/chicken, as a dipping for fresh Vietnamese spring rolls or for asian inspired snacks

The fresh spring rolls are filled with lime-marinated tofu, spinach, fresh mint, cilantro, jullienned carrot and cucumber and mango. 

Pea soup a la R&V

The last recipe I wan to share with you is a favorite among me and my sister. I don't know why pea soup has always held an intern joke and reference for us, but for some reason or the other it's the bomb. The formular is now perfected. Here goes:

• 500 g de-podded green peas
• 1 parsnip
• 1 shallot
• 1 clove of garlic
• Coconut oil
• 3/4 l water
• 1 lemon + zest (organic)
• 1 tsp boullion/broth 
• 1 tsp fish sauce
• pepper
• a few leaves of fresh mint
• mint, lemon juice, pea sprouts and pine nuts for topping

How to:

• Chop the onion, garlic and parsnip and fry it in the coconut oil. When the onion is see-through, add water, broth, fish sauce, lemon juice and -zest and boil for a few minutes.
• Add peas and boil for another few minutes. The peas must still be al-dente.
• Add the fresh mint leaves and blend the soup with a hand blender. Taste and add pepper.
• Serve warm topped with sprouts and a few drops of lemon (is good the day after, too, served cold)