Chef Thomas
Baked Onions with Cream and Thyme
Whole onions surrendered to a low oven with cream and thyme until they collapse into something golden, sweet and yielding, the kind of side dish that quietly upstages everything else on the table.
Culinary Explorer
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Braised Peas with Lettuce and Spring Onions
Created by Chef Thomas
Peas braised in butter with wilted lettuce and spring onions, a dish that is entirely French in spirit and entirely at home on an English table in late May when the garden finally delivers.
Side Dishes
British
Dinner Party
Quick Meal
10 min
Active Time
15 min cook•25 min total
Yield4 servings
The first proper peas of the year arrived at the market on Saturday. Small, bright, tightly packed in their pods. I stood there shelling one into my hand and eating it raw, which is the only honest way to test a pea. Sweet. Green in the way that only things picked that morning taste green. I bought a bag and walked home with no plan beyond butter and a pan.
This is a very old way of cooking peas. French, originally, though it has lived in English kitchens for so long it feels like ours. The idea is simple: braise the peas with butter, a few spring onions, and some shredded lettuce, which melts into the dish and gives it a silky, almost savoury sweetness. The lettuce sounds strange until you try it. Then it sounds obvious. A recipe is a conversation, not a contract. This one has been saying the same thing for centuries: good peas, some butter, a little patience. That's all.
I make this when the evenings are long enough to eat with the back door open and the light still warm. It wants to sit beside a piece of fish, or some cold roast chicken, or honestly nothing at all. A bowl of these peas with good bread and a glass of something cold is a meal I'd be happy to eat three nights running. I wrote it down in the notebook last May: peas, lettuce, butter, first warm evening. That was enough.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
fresh peas in the pod
Quantity
500g (about 200g podded)
podded
round lettuce
Quantity
1 (Little Gem or butterhead)
shredded
spring onions
Quantity
1 bunch
trimmed and sliced
unsalted butter
Quantity
40g
vegetable or light chicken stock
Quantity
100ml
caster sugar
Quantity
1 teaspoon
fine sea salt
Quantity
to taste
fresh mint
Quantity
a few sprigs
leaves picked and torn
lemon juice (optional)
Quantity
a squeeze
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| fresh peas in the podpodded | 500g (about 200g podded) |
| round lettuceshredded | 1 (Little Gem or butterhead) |
| spring onionstrimmed and sliced | 1 bunch |
| unsalted butter | 40g |
| vegetable or light chicken stock | 100ml |
| caster sugar | 1 teaspoon |
| fine sea salt | to taste |
| fresh mintleaves picked and torn | a few sprigs |
| lemon juice (optional) | a squeeze |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide, shallow pan with a lid (or a plate that fits over it)
- •Small sharp knife for podding
Instructions
- 1
Start the butter and onions
Melt the butter in a wide, shallow pan over a gentle heat. When it foams, add the spring onions and a pinch of salt. Let them soften for two or three minutes, stirring once. You want them tender and sweet, not coloured. The kitchen will start to smell green and buttery, which is exactly right.
A wide pan matters here. Everything should sit in a single layer, more or less. Crowded peas stew. Relaxed peas braise. There's a difference. - 2
Add peas and stock
Tip in the peas and pour over the stock. Add the sugar. It sounds odd in a savoury dish, but a pinch of sugar does for peas what salt does for everything else: it reminds them what they're supposed to taste like. Bring to a gentle simmer. Not a boil. A murmur.
- 3
Wilt the lettuce
Scatter the shredded lettuce over the peas and press it down gently into the liquid. Put a lid on, or a plate if your pan hasn't got one, and let everything braise together for five to eight minutes. The lettuce will collapse into the peas, turning silky and giving up its water. When the peas are tender and the lettuce has lost all resistance, you're there.
Don't stir too much once the lettuce is in. Let it steam and wilt on top, then fold it through at the end. The layers of green, pale lettuce against bright pea, are part of the pleasure. - 4
Finish and serve
Take the lid off. If there's more liquid than you want, let it bubble away for a minute until you have a glossy, buttery sauce coating everything rather than a pool at the bottom. Tear the mint leaves and fold them through. A squeeze of lemon, barely there, just enough to lift the sweetness. Season and taste. Then taste again. Serve straight from the pan.
Chef Tips
- •If you can get fresh peas, use them. Pod them yourself, standing at the kitchen counter, eating every fourth one. It's a ten-minute job and worth every second. But frozen peas, the small ones, are no disgrace. They're picked and frozen within hours, which is more than you can say for most so-called fresh peas that have sat around for days. The market decides.
- •The lettuce must be soft-leafed. Little Gem or butterhead. Something that wilts obligingly into silk rather than fighting you. Iceberg won't do. Nor will anything crisp and proud. You want a lettuce that wants to collapse.
- •This is a spring dish. It belongs to May and June, when peas are actually in season and spring onions are thin and sweet. Making it in January with frozen peas and supermarket lettuce will give you something edible but joyless. Wait for the calendar. It'll be worth it.
- •A knob of butter stirred through at the very end, off the heat, makes the sauce glossy and rich. Not necessary. But not unwelcome either.
Advance Preparation
- •The peas can be podded several hours ahead and kept covered in the fridge. The spring onions and lettuce can be sliced and shredded in advance too.
- •This is best eaten the moment it's made. It doesn't reheat well. The lettuce turns drab and the peas lose their brightness. Cook it fresh and serve it straight away.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 130g)
Calories
130 calories
Total Fat
8 g
Saturated Fat
5 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
3 g
Cholesterol
20 mg
Sodium
400 mg
Total Carbohydrates
11 g
Dietary Fiber
4 g
Sugars
5 g
Protein
4 g
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