Let's just put our cards on the table: We love frozen peas. Is there a part of us that fantasizes about spending hours sitting on a porch somewhere bucolic, breaking open fresh, farmers' market pea pods and watching a bowl (very) slowly fill with sweet, grassy goodness? Sure. But fantasies do not a weeknight dinner make; frozen peas do.
Convenience is just one part of the equation. Frozen peas are actually, well, really, really delicious—not second to their fresh counterparts, but most of the time actually better. Like may frozen fruits and vegetables, peas are picked and flash-frozen at the height of freshness, which means all that all that green glory gets locked up in a bag that can happily sit in your freezer for months. That also means that, while in-the-shell peas from the farmers' market can sometimes go a little starchy depending on when they were harvested, frozen peas are reliably tender, sweet, and perfect. Plus, to state the obvious, you don't need to shell them (we're busy, and so are you), and you often don't even need to thaw them before incorporating them into a given dish.
These little guys have a solid reputation as an "emergency dinner" contingency staple, but we're all for making full-fledged meals out of the several bags we keep in the freezer at all times. Want to get in on the action? Here are a few ways that we like to make these little guys sing.
Add a shower of peas to a chicken pot pie filling, an otherwise-monochromatic paneer curry, or a weeknight fried rice, and instantly feel a little more virtuous about dinner.
Thaw a bag of frozen peas and you're halfway to a tasty mash like this lemony version perfect for spooning on toast. Or try a spin on pesto by pulsing thawed peas in a food processor with some grated Parm, a handful of mint, a garlic clove, and salt and pepper. Add olive oil as you process until you reach your desired consistency, then spread on toast or toss with pasta.
If we're making soup, we're probably putting peas in it. From a spring-y, vegetable-filled number with egg to a silky, pea-forward puréed soup with mint to a brothy, green garlic-fortified sort of thang, there soupy possibilities are endless.
There's not a pea that isn't a little happier cozying up next to an egg. Lightly-seasoned peas and baby shrimp are the perfect topping for salty, eggy Chawan Mushi. And that pea-filled fried rice we talked about earlier? Try this version, with a runny egg on top.
