What: Green Pea and Asparagus Ragout
Where: The Art of Simple Food
Who: Alice Waters

I love this. And you may love this too, if you love peas. If you don’t love peas, you might as well move along. But if you do love peas, but you don’t love asparagus, this is a fantastic way to learn to love asparagus. The whole thing is sweet and fresh and savory all at the same time. A very Spring-is-here dish. It’s incredibly easy, taking 3 minutes to prep and 10 minutes total to cook. When it was served hot, I dotted it generously with butter. But I found this dish most delicious served cold as a refreshing salad, drizzled with lemon olive oil.

The only trick, really, is to not overcook the veg. Waters gives 4-5 minutes for softening the spring onions (I didn’t have any, so I used 1 shallot bulb), and 4-5 minutes to cook the equal-parts peas and asparagus in a little water and salt. The asparagus is sliced to 1/4 inch thick, so it cooks as quickly as the peas. Salt and butter the whole dish to taste, or stir in some lemon zest and drizzle it with lemon olive oil.

I served this with the Chicken Legs Braised with Tomatoes, Onions, and Garlic, and Saffron Rice.