crostini

We scanned the market vendor stalls and spotted our guy down the aisle–and, just as importantly, his big blue cooler.

“I can see them!” I shouted back over my shoulder, doing my best to move forward through the Saturday morning crowd without kicking a stroller or bumping a shopper. “He has the peas!”

I was sad that the party last weekend was just a shade too early to incorporate this personal highlight of the early local produce season. As a 2 lbs bag of already-shelled deliciousness was filled for me, the ladies behind us wondered how on earth you could use that much in a week. I wanted to reach into my supply and just grab a handful for them to snack on raw, but even I recognized in the moment that that would have been…weird.

Meanwhile, in addition to last week’s Mint Pea Soup and just crunching down on the little darlings straight out of the fridge, here are a few other things to do with peas. If you have a great pea recipe, please drop it in the comments. I’ll have another 2 lbs to deal with next week!

Mint Pea Dip (pictured above, left). I still had mint leftover from the party, so I whipped this up (literally–it took about 5 minutes, including blanching time) for a snack last night. It’s minty, garlicky, springtime in a bowl.