Ingredients
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Preparation
Step 1
The easiest, and maybe the best, way to serve tender shelling peas is to shell them and then cook them in 1/2 inch or so of salted boiling water. Peas take longer to cook than you might expect; I find they take around 4 minutes. Keep tasting them, and drain them when they are done to your liking. Put a large pat of butter on them and a sprinkle of salt, stir together, and serve immediately. If you have it available, chervil is wonderful chopped and stirred in. A slice or two of prosciutto or other ham can be julienned and stirred in with the butter, which makes a lovely pasta sauce for fresh or dried egg noodles. Another way to cook peas, one dear to the French, is to heat the water, then add salt and a few butter lettuce leaves along with the peas. When the peas are tender, swirl in butter to make a sauce around the peas and lettuce. The peas can also be cooked in olive oil instead of butter.
Step 2
All of these ways of cooking shelled peas apply to sugar snap peas. Cook them whole, or cut in half lengthwise or diagonally so that they mix well with sauce.