Garden peas have a lovely sweetness to them and always work well with fresh mint. Here I’ve blitzed them with some softened shallots, garlic and olive oil to create a fragrant puree that is delicious on crostini or would be great as a side dish with some lamb kebabs. This is a simple, summery dish best eaten in the garden with a glass of something cold. I’ve had some for my lunch already today and the rest is stored in a jar in the fridge for later. In the meantime I’m off to the beach in some un-forecasted sunshine to set up a lemonade stand with one of my enterprising 9 year olds – should be fun.
You will need:
1 baguette
200g frozen garden peas
50g butter
2 small shallots
1 clove garlic
1 tsp chopped fresh mint (3 or 4 leaves)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil + extra for drizzling on bread
2 small radishes
Method:
Pre-heat the fan oven to 200 / Gas Mark 6
Slice the baguette and place on a baking tray in the oven to crisp up for about 5 minutes
Bring the peas to the boil in a saucepan of water for 3 minutes
Melt 50g butter in a small frying pan over a low to medium heat. Peel and finely slice the shallots and add to the pan to soften for 5 minutes. Peel and crush the garlic and add to the softened shallots.
Drain the peas and add to the shallots and garlic in the pan and cook for 1 minute mixing well. (Taste a pea to ensure it is cooked)
Blitz the peas, shallots and garlic in a food processor with the chopped fresh mint and 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil.
Drizzle some olive oil over the crisped baguette slices and return to the oven for 1 minute.
Serve the pea and garlic puree on top of the crostini garnished with some thin slices of radish.
Enjoy. Til next time, Sheila.
Pea & Garlic Crostini
