How Marcella cooks peas

[Jenise]

Loved this Facebook post today by her husband, Victor.

Marcella cooks peas: sweats finely sliced onion with a pinch of salt in olive oil, adds shelled peas, and shredded romaine. No liquid. Covers the pan, cooks at medium heat until the lettuce dissolves, bathing the peas. If peas are very fresh, done in 5 to 10 minutes. The recipe comes from the greengrocer down the street from where we lived in Rome, circa 1966. The sign on his shop said Primizie, which in the context of vegetables, means the freshest, youngest, choicest of the season. He had a name that I have forgotten, but Marcella called him il primizaro. When the peas are right, there is no sweeter way to cook them. Their very taste is of youth, of innocence. Victor.

i'm truly amazed at how long we are told by writers to cook vegetables. peas are actually my absolute favorite thing. i can easily eat a quart at a sitting - provided they really are tender. tender means grown in a very cool climate (maybe thats why they are also called 'english peas') - or at least in a cool growing season. Heat is their main enemy. Spring works some years in some climates; but Fall is actually a better time. IMO any pea that takes even 1 minute to cook might as well be thrown away. 30 seconds after returning to the boil is fine. ok, so this is a different technique; but 5-10 minutes is unbelievable.

I'm with you, David: good peas need 30 seconds, tops.

Bad peas, well, those can go in chicken pot pie.

[Jenise]

tender means grown in a very cool climate (maybe thats why they are also called 'english peas') - or at least in a cool growing season.

I'm on your side re peas, though in Marcella's recipe the romaine needs to be cooked down which wouldn't happen in 30 seconds. Haven't tried her recipe myself, but would be willing to! Like you, I love peas. Re English peas? Generally that's not a tender small spring pea but an older, larger and starchier pea. Possibly, a whole different species of pea but when you hear the word 'English' don't expect petite pois.

Glad someone said it. Five minutes cooking peas is worse than shoe-leather steak. Usually, I just throw fresh peas into whatever they are going at the last seconds before serving, allowing the steam to get a crack at them.

In Thomas Jefferson's diaries he wrote lovingly of the first peas of the season.

I too was blown away by the long cooking time, especially coming from a pro.

I enjoy peas as much as the next self-respecting cultivated palate. But I must admit that I don't 'love them' because the flavors are just too mild for me to get very excited. Yet another case of me loving to eat Mediterranean but drink Northern.

[Jenise]

Is no one else surprised by the idea of cooking them with lettuce?

Yes, I actually did think the lettuce part of the recipe was interesting. I've never cooked any kind of lettuce in such a fashion and it's an intriguing idea.

Yes that was unique. I think I read some Alice Waters recipes that also called for cooking lettuce, and I may have even tried it once or twice in Berkeley. But I never did it very much, and like most of her recipes it didn't apply at all once I left Berkeley!

Yes that was unique. I think I read some Alice Waters recipes that also called for cooking lettuce, and I may have even tried it once or twice in Berkeley. But I never did it very much, and like most of her recipes it didn't apply at all once I left Berkeley!

Cad.

I often cook arugula, beet greens, chard, and spinach (wilt actually), but have never cooked lettuce, but probably because I rarely eat lettuce, the other greens being so much more interesting and flavorful.

cooking peas with lettuce is VERY traditional. Julie Child refers to it as 'a la francaise'; and the NYT cookbook calls it 'french style'.

[Jenise]

cooking peas with lettuce is VERY traditional. Julie Child refers to it as 'a la francaise'; and the NYT cookbook calls it 'french style'.

Interesting to know!

OK, so I had to look it up. Julia calls her recipe not merely good but 'the glory of green pea cookery':
http://www.cookstr.com/recipes/peas-braised-with-lettuce-and-onions

They cook for 20-30 minutes!

The technique is interesting. I've heard that this is flavor-intensifying trick that is also traditionally used on chicken: put it in a pot with a minimum amount of aromatic root vegetables, close the lid and cook forever.

[Jenise]

20-30 minutes? OMG.

Okay, we all must try this. Might be going to TJ's today, I can pick up fresh peas there.