Raw Pea Shoots

Last year I posted about my first experience sautéeing pea shoots (the part of the pea plant that isn't the pea pod). This year my kitchen barely exists at the moment but we have more pea shoots than ever before. Because our front yard is full of dense clay soil, it's difficult for tender plants to grow in it. So that we could eventually grow something nice, George planted peas and red clover and alfalfa in the clay soil. They shot up happily. Peas, like beans, put nitrogen into the soil. They are great for soil. After all the plants all done growing, George is going to till all the plants back into the soil, loosening it up and providing nutritious organic material for grass or flowers or whatever we want.

Therefore, LOTS of pea shoots right now. I read somewhere that you could eat them raw, so after picking a bunch of lettuce from the garden, I snipped several pea shoots too. I washed everything together and served it with fresh squeezed lemon juice. The pea shoots tasted quite mildly of pea, with soft leaves and crispy little stalks. They're quite attractive so we're looking forwards to eating them in salad again.