Vegan Latest: Stosie Madi’s vegan recipe for baked garden peas with spring onions and jersey royals

Sunday, May 7, 2023

Stosie Madi’s vegan recipe for baked garden peas with spring onions and jersey royals

From theguardian.com

Could this be the ultimate spring braise? Devour with the nuttiest new potatoes you can find …

Our long, cold, dark winters mean spring pod vegetables arrive late up here in Lancashire. But when they do finally make an appearance, they are plentiful, so we always try to make the most of them while we can. At The Parkers Arms, I often pair peas and beans with local nutty new potatoes, a braise that reminds me of my mother every time I make it. On warm days, she’d make something similar, then put it in the fridge overnight and serve it cold the next day on butter lettuce. I’ve added a few sliced spring onions to the mix, because their delicate allium acidity balances the sweetness of the peas; or, even better, add some shredded wild garlic leaves, if you’re lucky to have a patch nearby (the forests and grounds around us at the Parkers have been carpeted with the stuff recently). Spring braises such as this are quick to assemble, and don’t require long cooking, either – with fresh, seasonal ingredients such as this, the less you do to them, the better they always taste.

Baked garden peas with spring onions (or wild garlic) and jersey royals

You will need an oven-to-table cooking dish with a lid, and good bread or steamed rice to serve alongside.

Prep 15 min
Cook 45 min
Serves 4

1kg peas in their pods, podded, pods reserved
Salt and black pepper
50ml sunflower oil
300g jersey royals, scrubbed clean
2 bunches spring onions, trimmed and coarsely sliced, or 2 big handfuls wild garlic leaves, washed
3 sprigs fresh mint, plus a few leaves to garnish
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
50ml good-quality extra-virgin olive or rapeseed oil

Put the empty pea pods in a large pan with a litre of water and a teaspoon of salt, bring to a boil, then cook for 10 minutes. Strain the liquid into a smaller pan (discard the spent pods), then reduce the liquid to 500ml.

Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan)/350F/gas 4, and pour the sunflower oil into an ovenproof casserole or similar. Halve the potatoes, season, then toss in the oil to coat and arrange cut side up in the base of the pot.

Add the podded peas and season again to taste. Scatter the spring onions (or wild garlic leaves) over the lot, add the mint sprigs and lemon zest, then pour the reduced pea pod stock over the top.

Pop the lid on the pot, then transfer to the oven and cook for 15 minutes. Turn down the heat to 160C (140C fan)/315F/gas 2½, take off the lid and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked through.

Rip the mint leaves all over the dish, then anoint everything with good oil and squeeze over the lemon juice. Serve direct from the cooking pot, hot or at room temperature, with crusty bread or steamed rice and a crisp salad.

Stosie Madi is chef/co-owner of The Parkers Arms in Newton-in-Bowland, Lancashire