Piles of Peas

Yesterday was a day of peas for my family.  Quite appropriate for a Sunday, don't you think?  I spent most of the afternoon picking peas out of my mom's garden with some help and even more "help" by the kids.  I ended up with a paper grocery bag full of them.  Who knows how many countless others were sacrificed in the "field" as impromptu snacks or "quality checks".

After we got home and had dinner, the shelling began and went late into the night.  The kids helped some, motivated by watching almost the entire first season of Malcolm in the Middle on DVD.  Eventually, crankiness took over for helpfulness and I had to send the littler ones to bed.  The work continued deep into the night (this time with Monty Python and the Holy Grail playing).

Finally, about 3am, I was ready to blanch the peas.  This step seals in the goodness, like vitamins and minerals, and makes them taste even better than they do fresh off the vine.  I got my pot of water boiling, scooped some peas into a metal colander, and set the colander in the boiling water for 90 seconds.  Meanwhile, I put some ice in a ginormous metal bowl to cool the peas quickly once they were out of water.  When the timer went off, I dumped the peas in the ice and stirred them around to make sure they cooled evenly.  I repeated this until all the peas were blanched.  (I think I need a bigger pot!) Once all the peas were blanched and cooled, I bagged them up in dated and labeled freezer bags and set them in the freezer.

All in all, the entire day's work yielded about 8 quart bags of frozen peas.  For the amount of effort that goes into those things, they are green gold!  Hopefully that will last us at least a couple months.  Here are some of the main ways I use the peas:

• Foil-wrapped dinners
• Creamy tuna casserole
• Meatballs with mashed potatoes and peas
• Chicken stew with dumplings
• Chickenherder's pie
• Chicken fried rice (I'll have to post that recipe another time)
• Cold chicken or tuna pasta salad