A dozen things to do with peas
The humble green pea is having a moment. Here are 12 recipes that make the most of this ZeroPoint® food.
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Packing 9 grams each of protein and fiber per cup, sweet, grassy peas are low-key nutrition powerhouses and, on most Weight Watchers plans, a ZeroPoint® food — food you can eat without weighing, measuring, or tracking. Toss garden, snap, or snow varieties into pastas, salads, and stir-fries for bright pops of flavor. Whether fresh from the produce aisle or straight from the freezer, their quick cooking time also makes them a weeknight secret weapon.
Get to know your peas
Garden peas
Also known as sweet peas or English peas, these are the ones that you typically find in the freezer aisle. Fresh-from-the-actual-garden peas can wind up with a mealy texture and starchy flavor if they aren’t processed and cooked soon after picking.
If you decide to buy fresh, get them from the farmer’s market and look for pods that are firm and rounded. Make sure to remove the peas from the shells before cooking.
Snow peas
These flat pods with tiny little peas inside can be eaten raw or cooked; just make sure you remove the tough string along the side beforehand. These cook up quickly and are most commonly used whole in stir-fries.
Sugar snap peas
Similar to snow peas, the pods of snap peas are edible, although the walls of snap peas are thicker and rounder with a more pronounced grassy sweetness than snow peas.
Try them thinly sliced on an angle in a salad or cooked whole. More mature snap peas need to have their tough strings removed as well. For convenience, “pre-strung” or “stringless” snap peas are available in many supermarkets.