Recipe: Peas the French Way

Name: Peas the French Way
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 17.75 oz (500 g) fresh shelled peas (or frozen); 1 heart of lettuce from a plant that is nice and white, washed; 12 small new onions, peeled; 1 small bunch of chervil, tied together; 5.25 oz (150 g) fresh half-salted butter, softened; 0.3 oz (8 g) salt; 0.4 oz (12 g) caster sugar

By chef patrick Asfaux 5/5 (23 reviews) · 🍳 21 made it

Recipe Peas the French Way - Chef Patrick Asfaux — Photo: Aftouch-cuisine

Prep 10 min

Cook 10 min

Total 20 min

Servings 6 serv.

Here is another legendary recipe from great French cuisine. If you ever prepare it as described, there is no doubt you will never be able to do without it.

Ingredients for 6 servings

Adjust for

servings

17.75 oz (500 g) fresh shelled peas (or frozen)
1 heart of lettuce from a plant that is nice and white, washed
12 small new onions, peeled
1 small bunch of chervil, tied together
5.25 oz (150 g) fresh half-salted butter, softened
0.3 oz (8 g) salt
0.4 oz (12 g) caster sugar

Step-by-step directions

1 Cut the lettuce heart into 4 pieces lengthwise. Tie each quarter so they do not fall apart during cooking.

2 In a salad bowl, put your peas, your small onions, the 4 quarters of lettuce, salt, sugar, and finally 4.4 oz (125 g) of softened butter (very soft), then work it all together by hand (or with gloves). When everything is well blended, form a large ball, then place the chervil bunch on top, cover with cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour.

3 We now come to the very particular cooking technique for these peas which, practiced this way, will allow you to achieve excellence. In a saucepan, pour 2 tablespoons of spring water (if possible), add your large compact ball of peas, then place a deep plate on top of the saucepan that you will fill with water. Cooking: 10 minutes at a gentle boil. The role of this deep plate is paramount, it works because it seals hermetically, preventing the escape of steam. The steam hits the plate and is forced back inward, becoming a cooking agent.

4 Your peas are now cooked, drain them while keeping the liquid, remove the string from your lettuces and remove the chervil bunch.

5 Now pour the liquid into your saucepan, reduce it to three-quarters of its volume, then away from the heat, add the 0.9 oz (25 g) of butter in small pieces while stirring (mount), then add peas and lettuces just to bring to a boil and adjust the seasoning. You will then serve in a vegetable dish the four pieces of lettuce in a cross pattern with the small onions in the spaces between. I have only changed the cooking time in this great and beautiful recipe, which was formerly 28 minutes, as our taste for peas has evolved. The result will be sublime.

Chef Patrick's Comment

In truth, the expression "peas" only dates back to the 18th century, a period of culinary refinement. Peas were then the ultimate luxury dish. Indeed, a famous proverb said: "Eat peas with the rich and cherries with the poor." This meant that at the time, peas were only eaten as a spring delicacy and only the wealthy could enjoy them, whereas cherries had the time to ripen on the tree. In cuisine, a garnish made with peas is called "à la Clamart," a locality near Paris that produced a variety of these small round grains.