Peas - dare I serve this as a starter?

Vaila

i would definetly appreciate some home grown garden peas, mine have been a late show this year
i like them just plain but you could make them into an attractive salad with edible flowers and maybe a white cheese or deli meat served with some good bread

Hannah_10

My honest reaction would be to smile politely and assume that you'd burnt plan A!

Swan_2

I'd love to be served raw peas in the pod

I used to get bumper crops when I had a garden & none of them even made it into the house never mind cooked

sinister_nutmeg

ooh yes! Like ceryn90 said above, I'd treat them like edamame and have a big bowl of them in the middle of the table (or a bowl each would work too, obviously), and maybe some other bits and pieces, spring rolls or fishcakes or something like that. A bit Japanese, like!

Congratulations on growing them yourself, btw!

Mayflower10cat

Actually, I'd quite like raw peas in a pod as a starter! But I'd probably mix them in with other crudites so my guests 'got it'.

Two ideas sprang to mind reading this; one was treat them as if they were potted shrimps. Follow the same method with the seasoned melted butter, add finely chopped mint insead of cayenne pepper, do them in individual pots which you can turn out and serve with melba toast or crusty bread.

Second, make a light fritter type batter, with half 'n half gram/self raising flour and make fresh pea pakoras. My twist on this would be to cook them outside on a camping gas burner in front of your guests. Serve with a very light fresh relish, something like finely chopped sweet red onion, a little fresh green chilli and some skinned chopped tomato.

Everyone's ideas sound delicious!

spike7451

How about Pea Sorbet?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/hameggandpeas_85942

Claire_Bear

What do people do with the pods, can you not nibble on them raw or do they taste funny? Pea soup has already been mentioned with them, but is there any other dishes which use them? I'd hate the thought of throwing them away!

mary-op

You could have a look at www.peas.org - there's some good recipes on there -plus free recipe book.

babyshoes

You could serve them sort of as an 'amuse bouche' as a prelude to the starter, with a very light drink like dry champagne or light dry white wine, or one of those sparkling juicy water drinks for any drivers. I love the idea of having them straight up, if you follow them with something else as a starter, either contine with the pea theme and do pea soup, or do something else light to go with the drinks.

Alternatively, serve them with a couple of bowls of other raw veg like baby sweetcorn, sliced sweet peppers, baby carrots, baby button mushrooms etc. If your main meal is fairly substantial, you don't want or need to fill people up with the starter!

Primrose

Some interesting ideas here. Many thanks. I've a horrible feeling my plan may end up being academic because every time I walk past my vegetable patch, another handful of peas get picked for me to eat raw as I wander round the garden surveying it all. In a few days there probably won't be any left for anybody else. Growers privilege and all that !