Pea Vines

Helpful information and tips on how to simply prepare/eat them from Claudine Arndt:  “I love the fresh taste of pea shoots/vines (interchangeable) so much that I do very little with them. Sometimes I lightly sauté them, but usually I just add them raw into whatever I’ve prepared.

Wise Acre Eatery tops most of their salads with them and uses them in their CSA breakfast hash (along with other vegetables). Over the weekend I had them lightly sautéed under a bed of fish at a tasting dinner. I bet they would be delicious pureed with some asparagus for a spring soup.  Two weeks ago I had them chopped into a fresh pea and mint salad at Pizzeria Lola. In each case, they were either just lightly sautéed or raw.”

Pea Vine Salad with Radishes and Mint

serves 4-6 (harmonyvalleyfarm.com)

1 bunch pea vines, trimmed to bite-size pieces
1 cup (2 oz.) salad greens
3-4 radishes, small diced
¼ cup mint, chiffonade
2 tsp white balsamic vinegar or white wine vinegar
1 lemon, juice and zest
¼ tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

In a small bowl, combine vinegar, lemon juice and zest, salt and pepper.  Slowly drizzle in olive oil, whisking continuously.  In a separate bowl, toss pea vines, salad greens, radishes and mint.  Immediately before serving, drizzle with vinaigrette and toss to coat greens evenly.  *Thinly sliced spring turnips may also make a nice addition to this salad.

harmonyvalleyfarm.com is an excellent resource for recipes.  Check out this recipe for Pea Vine & Green Onion Pasta Salad with Ginger & Lemon at the bottom of the pdf, it looks delicious!  http://harmonyvalleyfarm.com/NLTR/MAD/csamad170520.pdf