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Green Peas a la Creme
Boil a pint of newly shelled, fresh young peas in the usual way. Drain them in a colander until quite dry. Mix an ounce of butter and a teaspoonful of flour smoothly together, over the fire; add a quarter of a pint of good, sweet cream; when it boils, put in the peas for two or three minutes, and serve as hot as possible. Time, half an hour, altogether. Sufficient for three or four persons.
A simple cream-bound pea dish that depends entirely on the peas being young and the cream not being cooked down to grease. The whole thing takes minutes once the peas are boiled.
- Do not overcook the peas"in the usual way" left the timing to the cook, and older instructions often ran far longer than we would now, which turns young peas grey and starchy. Fresh shelled peas need 3-5 minutes in salted water; frozen peas need barely two.
- A pint of shelled peasRoughly 2 to 2.5 cups depending on whether the pint is US or imperial, so about 10-14 oz, which means somewhere around 2 lb of peas in the pod. A 10-oz bag of frozen petits pois is a fair substitute.
- A quarter of a pint of cream4 to 5 fl oz, so half a cup or a little more. "Good, sweet cream" means fresh (as opposed to soured) cream with a high fat content; use heavy or double cream so it thickens rather than splitting.
- The butter and flourAn ounce of butter is 2 tablespoons, and it is being cooked with the flour to make a small roux. Let it bubble a minute without colouring before the cream goes in, or the sauce tastes of raw flour.
- Drain them quite dryThis is the instruction that carries the dish. Wet peas thin the cream into a puddle; tip them into the colander and let them steam dry for a minute or two.
- The half hourThe stated time is given as the total, presumably taking in the preparation as well as the boiling. Once the peas are cooked, the sauce and finishing take under five minutes, and the dish will not wait -- have the plates ready.
- SeasoningNo salt or pepper is specified here. Season the cream sauce before the peas go in; a little sugar suits older or frozen peas.