Basic recipes will call for just boiling peas then pureeing. The fine dining restaurant way is to saute garlic and eschalots in butter before adding peas and stock to simmer until soft, blitzing into a puree then pressing through a colander to make it silky smooth. It tastes luxurious!Wonderful side dish with any protein - meats, roasts, fish, prawns/shrimp - for both the splash of colour and the dual purpose it serves as a side dish as well as a semi-sauce. Nice change from the usual mash!
Prep Time10 minutesmins
Cook Time6 minutesmins
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: French, Western
Keyword: chickpea recipe, frozen peas, pea puree, pea side dish
Servings: 6- 8 people
Author: Nagi
Ingredients
1 kg / 2 lbfrozen peas
125g / 8 tbspbutter, unsalted
2garlic cloves,minced
2medium eschalots, finely sliced (ie the baby onions, aka French onions, US: shallots)
2cupschicken or vegetable stock/broth, low sodium (use vegetable stock if the puree is for fish)
Aromatics: Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and eschalots, saute 3 minutes until soft, but don't let them go golden.
Cook peas: Add frozen peas and stock, increase heat to bring to simmer then cover and reduce heat to medium. Simmer 2 minutes.
Reserve Liquid: Remove 1/3 cup liquid from the saucepan, reserve.
Blitz: Transfer all peas and remaining liquid into a food processor. Add salt and pepper, and mint if using. Blitz on high for 1 minute until smooth.
Optional straining: For extra smooth, press through a mesh colander with a rubber spatula (it's easy).
Adjust consistency: Use Reserved Liquid as needed to achieve the desired consistency - I like a soft, dolloping consistency. Sometimes people want it looser. Add more salt and pepper if desired - remember, this is not supposed to be strongly flavoured or seasoned!
Serve warm. Either dollop/smear onto plates, or serve in bowls for people to help themselves.