Fresh peas

As far as I can remember I've never made fresh peas. Frozen, sure, but never fresh. I got a bag of "shell peas" in CSA Week #4 .

I had to look up how to shell them. This was a good description . Basically look at the pea pod and one seam sticks out and one is indented slightly. Grab the stem and tear down the indented side and the pod just zips open! Then just knock the peas out of the pod with your finger or thumb. Easy!

Fresh peas can be steamed or boiled. I went with boiled since that's how I make frozen peas.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, add the peas, and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, uncovered. Drain. Return to the pan and season with salt and pepper. A lot of people add some butter here, but I did not.

These were really good, well worth the effort. At least for a couple servings of peas it's more zen than annoying to shell the peas.

Here are my peas with meatloaf, rice and gravy.

Update July 2, 2014: I've decided that I really don't like frozen peas, either. Now these fresh peas, they're awesome and I'm not going to eat any other kind. Also, I added a tiny bit of butter this time, along with the salt and freshly ground pepper.