Pea

For this bountiful vegetable soup, the less cooking time, the better. Everything should remain bright green and just tender-crisp.

A delectable, high-protein puree made of cashew butter and silken tofu forms the base of this nearly instant soup. This soup is good warm, at room temperature, or even chilled, if you have the time to refrigerate it.

Now this is real comfort food. It makes me feel like I’m doing something good for myself every time I eat it. Delicious and healthy—what more do you want?

Cooking fish is not one of my specialties, but I do love this recipe because it doesn’t taste fishy. I think it was probably my mom’s attempt to get us girls to eat some fish by disguising it in fried bread crumbs. What can I say? It worked. The creamed peas give the croquettes a slightly sweet accent. This topping tastes good on other meats too, like baked chicken and ham.

I love homemade biscuits, and I love meatloaf, so it’s no surprise I’m pretty fond of this recipe. The sauce is so terrific, especially poured over that wonderful homemade biscuit dough with a little ground beef rolled inside. Yum!

I love living in Oklahoma. I do miss my family in Georgia, but luckily I get to travel back and forth a lot for visits. My Georgia family has also made the trek to Oklahoma several times, so now both places feel like home. Only once have I gotten so homesick I thought I wouldn’t make it, and that was because I was really sick with the flu and Mama wasn’t there to take care of me. Sometimes nobody will do except Mama! She made this soup for me, froze it in quart containers, packed it in dry ice (who knew you could get dry ice in Monticello?), and shipped it overnight to me in a Styrofoam cooler. When I got it the next morning, I cried, ate some soup, cried, ate some more soup, and thanked God for the most awesome mom on the planet!

Even though places like St. Hubert Rotisserie have been serving the “hot chicken sandwich” since the 1930s, no factual proof exists that it originated in Quebec. Our only proof is that we haven’t seen it outside the province, whereas inside, it’s a weekly staple. It’s basically hot, shredded chicken, served with galvaude (peas and gravy, usually a poutine variation) and two pieces of white bread. In this recipe, you have four meat options: pork, duck, rabbit, or chicken. They’re all hot and they’re all delicious. For pork, use the pulled pork recipe in Scallops with Pulled Pork (page 30). For the other meats, there are three steps: (1) cure it, (2) smoke it, and (3) confit it. If you don’t have a smoker can, you will need to dig up an empty 1-quart (1-liter) tin can for step 2. If you live in the States, D’Artagnan (www.dartagnan.com) will deliver the duck fat you need in step 4 to your door. If not, use bacon fat. The gravy is the perfect clone of the local poulet barbecue sauce. It’s not a hot sauce, but it’s also not that thickish gravy that tastes like spinach and baking soda. It’s zingier, a cross between BBQ sauce and gravy. It is classic on these sandwiches, but it’s also good, minus the bread, on duck, pork, poutine, or yes, chicken.

This dish is one of the first things I make once the Pacific salmon season has opened. It is the first sign that summer is near. Later in the summer, I make a similar dish with corn, zucchini, and tomatoes with fresh basil. Any combo of fresh, perfectly sweet, just-picked veggies will be a great complement to the fish. It’s especially important to buy wild salmon—even self-proclaimed “sustainable” salmon farms are dangerous because of the parasitic lice that thrive on farmed salmon; when the infested fish escape (a frequent occurrence), the lice threaten the wild salmon population. If wild salmon isn’t in season, use any sustainable fillet or steak that is of similar thickness. If available, use 1/4 cup chopped green garlic instead of the garlic cloves. And if you can find them, rainbow carrots are beautiful here.

This is one of my favorite ways to showcase the fresh and delicate flavors of spring: sweet peas, tender green garlic, and mint. Serve with crostini or fresh spring veggies as a dip (pictured), or spread it on sandwiches. You can also use fava beans in place of the peas, or use a combination. Truffle pecorino would also work well in this recipe.

Many people never think to cook radishes, but they are delicious when braised gently in butter. Brian likes to pair them with sugar snap peas, which mature in Dolores’s garden at about the same time. You could add other spring vegetables, such as turnips, baby carrots, or English peas. Blanch them separately (as for the sugar snap peas here) so they don’t pick up any radish color, then combine them all just long enough to reheat. Serve with Slow-Roasted King Salmon with Garden Herbs (page 110) or spring lamb.

From late spring to early summer, when our winery garden is producing tender peas, Brian makes a delicate pasta sauce with them. It’s not worth making the pesto with starchy peas, so wait for that perfect cusp-of-summer moment. Serve this pasta as a first course, followed by Slow-Roasted King Salmon with Garden Herbs (page 110) or spring lamb chops. On another occasion, spread the pea pesto on crostini for an hors d’oeuvre.

When Southerners like Birmingham chef Frank Stitt talk about field peas, they mean small shelling beans, such as black-eyed peas. (Crowder peas and lady peas also qualify, but they’re less common.) When field peas are fresh, in summer, Chef Stitt, a 1999 Workshop attendee, shows them off in this salad, tossing them with grilled corn cut from the cob, tomato, grilled red onion, and herbs. Serve the salad when you’re also grilling salmon, sausages, or pork chops, or with Brian’s Grilled Mahimahi with Preserved Lemon Butter (page 113). If you can’t find fresh black-eyed peas, use dried ones, soaked overnight, then simmered gently until tender.

This homemade version of the Chinese standby is a great way to use up leftover rice. Or, to save time, cook the rice up to three days in advance, then let cool and refrigerate, covered tightly. Bring to room temperature before adding to stir-fry.

Avocado is right at home in this Asian-style one-bowl supper of shrimp, snow peas, and brown rice. Serve the citrusy sauce on the side, or drizzle a little over each portion.

Extra vegetables and a lighter crust make this comfort-food classic a smarter choice than traditional versions. Using store-bought phyllo dough cuts down on prep time.

Brimming with peas and carrots and topped with fresh-dill dumplings, this nourishing one-pot meal is just right for cold evenings. Keeping the heat at medium-low helps the chicken cook slowly, so it turns out ultra-tender.

Two types of peas are cooked along with the pasta in this one-pot dish, so everything finishes at once. The vegetables should be cooked just long enough that their colors stay vibrant and they are warmed through.

There’s no need to boil the noodles separately; here, they are cooked in the savory broth that serves as the base of this soup. Look for soba noodles in the Asian-food or pasta section of the grocery store. If you can’t find them, use whole-wheat spaghetti instead.

Sugar snap peas add distinctive crunch to this refreshing salad. Look for plump green ones with smooth pods. If using frozen shrimp, thaw them overnight (see below). The zesty dressing is inspired by popular versions served at Japanese restaurants.