Sundays N.Y. Times, 7.11.99, included an article by Molly O’Neill focused onsugar snap peas. While I believe that only folks living among the exalted in the Hamptons’enclaves could believe this is a subject worthy of an entire article — even Molly haddifficulty filling an entire two page spread –there is one little recipe tacked on at theend that piqued my interest. No, it’s not the one requiring a peeled jicama, halibutsteaks or scallion crepes. This is a simple recipe for a salad dressing (tomatovinaigrette) to be used with snap peas. Enjoy.
Tomato Vinaigrette for Snap Peas
1 medium tomato, chopped
½ shallot, chopped
½ clove garlic, minced
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons olive oil
¾ teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
Freshly ground black pepper
In the container of a blender, combine the tomato, shallot, garlic, mustard, oil, saltand a few grind of pepper and process until very smooth. Toss with warm or chilled,steamed or blanched snap peas. See method below. Adjust amount for amount of peas. For
¾ pounds snappeas, you may need to make a double batch of vinaigrette.
And, Heaven Forbid, if you are not a fan of tomatoes, fresh or otherwise, just look beyondthe cooking method for snap peas below, and check out the recipe for Broccoli Vinaigrette. You could easily use The Joy’s French Vinaigrette with snap peas. It wouldnot be Klocks’ Kitchen if there were not some improvisation going on in some nook of thekitchen.
Yield: About 1 cup.
Snap Peas
¾
pounds (about 3 cups) snap peas
Bring a large saucepan that is 2/3 full of salted water to a boil. Add the snap peasand cook until they just begin to soften, about two minutes. Drain and immediately plungethe peas into cold water to stop the cooking. When cool, drain again, then chill untilready to toss with vinaigrette.
Another good combination, along these same lines, though with a vegetable associatedwith falls cooler months is Broccoli Vinaigrette. Blanchtrimmed broccoli florets, leaving a slight crunch. Cool rapidly by plunging into coldwater, then drain and chill thoroughly. Make The Joy of Cookings French Vinaigrette, * adding about atablespoon of highest-grade capers, just before mixing vinaigrette with the chilledbroccoli florets. A wonderful garnish is hard-boiled eggs, finely chopped, and sprinkledatop the dressed broccoli florets. All should be chilled for at least an hour, thendrained thoroughly prior to serving.
*Alternatively, use Kraft Italian Dressing, which was specified in the BroccoliVinaigrette recipe when I found it in a magazine over twenty years ago.
This recipe has not been kitchen tested. Will be as soon as our local tomatoesare in full season.
You can find the above recipe(s) by tapping here on the Home Cookin’ index.
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