Sneaking up coy vines, they appear suddenly and en masse, full of softness and intrigue. Common garden info doesn't acknowledge the edible qualities of peas beyond their pods. Shoots, tendrils, flowers, and leaves are delicious enjoyed in salads, omelets, soups, scattered over a savory roast and tucked beneath a roasted chicken or grilled fish. A muted pea-taste is found in the leaves and tendrils, while the flowers carry little taste at all and serve as a beautifying element. I love to make a salad of the leaves and curling vines as I pinch and cut back my plants to further their growth. Raw or lightly sautéed, a bland omelet is elevated by tendrils. Rich in color, the flowers soften a heavy roast when scattered over top and juxtapose the dark, caramely-sear of a burger hot off the grill. Leaves are excellent with fish and in a spring soup paired with light notes of sorrel and asparagus.
No doubt my favorite way to enjoy them is in a tartine (open-faced sandwich). A slice of bread serves as the foundation beneath a smothering of soft spread and various toppings. A perfect snack for one, slices of baguette can be used instead when serving as an appetizer. It's an easy recipe to accomplish, the tendrils and flowers doing the work for you- with an appearance sure to impress.
"Cooking Intuitively," as I like to call it, means to remove the crutch of following a recipe and tapping into your senses and ingredients to guide your flavors. Recipes are wonderful things- I own hundreds of them- and when I cook from a beautiful cookbook, such as Marcella Hazan's or Yvette Van Bowen's, I can feel the author through their food- their stories, taste memories, lives. I learn so much from cooking this way, more than anything a broader understanding of what makes a person's story. But these excellent cooks would never have become the elemental influences they were without stepping away from the following of others and venturing forth on their own. It's something I encourage you to do and something that guides the workshops I teach.
Below you'll find a recipe for a pea flower tartine. You could substitute the bread for a dark, rustic loaf and pair with an equally hearty cheese (such as Gouda), topped with tart crunchy apples in the fall season. Or you could swap the farmer's cheese for ricotta or labneh. Honey could be drizzled over top in place of olive oil.
There are many ways to go and the decision is yours. Begin in the garden, tasting the plant and noting it's crunch, sweetness, and texture. What flavors does it carry? What would compliment those flavors? What would be too gentle to have an effect? Too strong and overpowering? The knowledge you acquire builds an understanding of your ingredients and that is where cooking begins.
Pea Flower Tartine
Ingredients:
1 Slice of bread from a rustic country loaf
3 tablespoons fresh farmer's cheese (or ricotta or labneh)
a handful of fresh pea tendrils
a handful of fresh pea flowers
a good olive oil
Flaky sea salt (such as Maldon)
Freshly cracked pepper
Directions:
1. Simply spread the cheese over one side of the bread. Follow with a scattering of the pea tendrils and pea flowers. Drizzle olive oil, and top with a pinch of flaky salt and grind of fresh cracked pepper.