Food

JP McMahon: Here’s why you should give peas a chance

Peas work wonderfully with white fish but a classic alternative is ham hock

For many of us in Ireland, frozen peas are all we’ve ever seen – this is our tragedy.

JP McMahon's face
JP McMahon
Sat Jul 7 2018 - 06:00

To say the summer has arrived is probably an understatement. In the last few weeks, we’ve seen record high temperatures. For me, it feels like we skipped spring completely, moving swiftly from winter into summer. Do you remember the snow? Probably not.

The first peas arrived in the restaurant last week, at the beginning of July. Is it 
just me or is everyone having this problem? Have spring vegetables become summer ones? Are we losing our seasons?

If this is the case, will autumn be winter? Maybe this was always the case. It’s not like we ever had four regular seasons in Ireland anyway. But global warming is definitely visible in front of us.

The new peas are delicious raw. You can even eat their pods, they’re so tender. Or how about juicing the pods for a nice cool sauce? Peas in their own juice with a touch of extra virgin rapeseed oil.

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For many of us in Ireland, frozen peas are all we’ve ever seen. This is our tragedy. But it’s the same in many other countries too. Chatting to Matt Orlando of Amass restaurant in Copenhagen, I also realised it’s not just us who have suffered this fate.

Many kids in his schools project didn’t know their peas come from a pod; for them, peas came from a bag in the freezer. This type of attitude reflects more on our education system as opposed to the intelligence of the children. If we don’t teach kids what food is or how to cook, what else can we expect?

Peas work wonderfully with white fish. It’s a great time for turbot and monkfish in Ireland. We’ve lots of it in the west, coming in from the Atlantic. Poached, grilled or baked whole, it all works well with peas. If you don’t want to cook the fish, don’t be worried. Raw monkfish and raw peas work well together, as a ceviche.

If you don’t want fish, a classic alternative is ham hock. Ham hock and pea salad or pea soup is a beautiful, refreshing dish that will lighten up any summer meal.

Matt Orlando