Although we had a lovely time shelling and eating fresh peas recently, we know that some people just don’t have the time or wherewithall to shell. So we offer up two great strategies from Improvised Life’s Archives (they both make great hors d’ouevres): Iron Skillet-Blistered Peas-in-their-Pods via Christopher Hirsheimer and Melissa Hamilton of The Canal House who got the recipe from Niloufer Ichaporia King, author of  My Bombay Kitchen: Traditional and Modern Parsi Home Cooking.

The idea is to pull the peas out of the pods with your teeth, just as you would eat an artichoke leaf. The charred bits of the pod and the salt sticks to your lips, flavoring the tender peas.

Mariquita Farm‘s website quotes chef Bruce Hill’s (of Bix in San Francisco) method of grilling young fava beans in their pods…

The heat of the coals will pop the pods open and split the hulls that wrap each bean. Remove the beans with your fingers and they’re ready.” (We’d try rubbing the pods lightly with oil before throwing them on the grill, then grill, turning, until charred in spots and opened…Serve them with lemon wedges and still maybe shavings of Pecorino…Or maybe GRILL the pecorino, too…)

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