Sunday Salads- Pea and Fava Bean Salad with Fresh Mint and Coriander

Today is a day for peas and fava beans. It is a day for bike rides, walks on the Seawall, and beers on patios. It is a day to celebrate, because it is 25 degrees out, there isn’t a cloud in the sky, and this must be the nicest Spring I remember since I moved to Vancouver over 6 years ago.

So today is a day for peas and fava beans.

Normally I just cook them in a bit of butter and call it a day, but today I felt like I had to do something a little more special. So I tossed in some mint, coriander seeds, garlic, and lemon zest and served it cold.

This is such a simple salad, and it completely relies on using really good quality ingredients- the freshest favas and peas you can find. I would love to say I picked them from my garden this morning, but sadly nothing lasts in this little apartment besides succulents, but I am spoiled rotten with my local market.

Fava Bean and Pea Salad with Fresh Mint and Coriander

1 1/2 cups English Peas, shelled

1 1/2 cups Fava Beans, shelled *

1 tsp Whole Coriander Seeds, gently crushed with the side of the knife.

1 Lemon, juiced and zested

1/4 cup Fresh Mint Leaves

1 clove Garlic, thinly sliced

2 tbsp Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Bring a medium sized pot of water to a boil. Put in a good pinch of salt.

Fill a medium sized bowl 3/4 full with ivery cold water.

Blanch the fava beans in the boiling water for about 2 minutes. Scoop them out with a slotted spoon and immediately put them in the water. Stir them around for a couple minutes.

Remove the favas from the ice water and remove the hulls- pinch off the white outer layer from the beans and discard it.

Blanch the peas in the exact same way- 2 minutes in teh boiling water and then straight into the water.

In a small frying pan warm the olive oil over medium heat.

Put in the garlic and stir until it is aromatic. Toss in the coriander and cook for another 30 seconds, being sure not to let the garlic burn.

Pour over the favas and peas.

Mix in the zest, half the lemon juice and the salt and pepper.

Taste it and check the seasoning, adding more lemon juice and salt as needed,

Tear the mint apart and toss it in as well!

Spring Pea Frittata with Roasted New Potatoes

I don`t know how my parents pulled this off, but from the age of about 4 (so my sister was around 8) we fended for ourselves for breakfast. On weekends they slept in, and and we cooked for ourselves. When we were really young this meant cereal, but as we got older it included pancakes, and sometimes bagels and cream cheese and lox. Either way it was a minute in time when I got to hang out with my sister and feel a little bit grown up. At least until I spilt the milk on the floor and started crying. I always cried over spilt milk.

I think because of this I love to make breakfast. I love the quiet of being up first and stretching out across the kitchen. I love the just drinking my tea and making what I want to make.

On the odd occasion that Jordan and I have a morning off together, (or more likely when I work in the morning and speed home and he`s still curled up in bed sleeping when I return at 9am) I make breakfast. I like to make it especially if he`s still sleeping and I feel like I have full control over the kitchen. I like the silence of it.

So this weekend as I was coming home from work I picked up a few things, made myself some tea , and a frittata and enjoyed the peace and quiet. And then of course I woke up Jordan and we had a perfect lazy Sunday morning.

Spring Pea Frittata with Roasted New Potatoes.

Serves 2

1 cup Shelled Peas

2 Shallots

1 tbsp Butter

1 small Clove of Garlic

4 Eggs, the better quality the better

3 tbsp Goats Cheese

A few leaves of mint, or basil or parsley if you have them!

1lb New Potatoes

a good glug of olive oil

Cut the potatoes into wedges and put in a medium sized pot. Cover with cold water and bring them to a boil.

Cook for 2 more minutes and then strain them.

Then in a medium sized frying pan warm the pan on medium heat and pour in your olive oil. When it’s warm add in your par cooked potatoes and let them get nice and brown in there.

Meanwhile

On medium heat melt the butter in a small frying pan. Slice the shallots into thin strips and add them in with a little salt.

Once they are nice and translucent add in your garlic and simmer until it just starts to become fragrant. Then add in the peas with a 1/4 cup of water. Let the water reduce and the peas get perfectly cooked.

While that’s reducing crack your eggs into a bowl and give them a bit of a whisk. Add in a pinch of salt and a crack of pepper too. Now pour them into the pan. The key to a light and fluffy frittata is that you stir it, scrape up the pieces from the bottom. When you have some big pieces and it almost looks like it might be scrambled eggs take it off the heat,  smooth out the top with your spatula and crumble your goats cheese on top. Now get it into the oven!

In about 5 minutes the top will be set and it will feel firm if you touch the middle. There shouldn’t be any browning on it though. Take it out of the oven,

Now using a rubber spatula scrape the outsides of the pan and carefully life the frittata out of the pan.

Sprinkle the frittata with any herbs you have around and slide it onto a plate or wooden cutting board along with the potatos.