so, last night i decided to try something new with dinner. i took a recipe from my faaaaavorite blog, the kitchn, got the ingredients from the store, and decided to document my adventure here.



easy enough--all you need is 1lb of snap peas (this is a perfect time of year for them!), one shallot, some mint leaves, olive oil, a meyer lemon, and some salt and pepper. the recipe doesn't call for it, but i added a bit of apple cider vinegar, too--i needed a little extra zing. anyway, here are the ingredients:

1 pound snap peas, trimmed
1 tablespoon Meyer lemon juice
1 teaspoon Meyer lemon zest
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon minced shallot
1 tablespoon chopped mint leaves
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

and, the directions:

first, if you want (i did), snap off the ends of the peas:

(if you're lucky, you'll have somebody to supervise and make sure you're doing it right)


(...but she might end up more interested in the new carpet you bought from job lot. that's right, Kyle!)

next, toss all of the peas into a pot of boiling water and leave for about two minutes, until they're a little bit softened, but still have that snap to them. while they're on the stove, take a large(ish) bowl and fill it with cold water and ice cubes:



when the peas are done on the stove, strain them and toss them into the bowl to cool them off. make the vinaigrette while they're cooling; zest the lemon, cut it in half and juice it, mince the shallot:



...cut up the mint, and end up with this lovely looking mix of yum:



i added in a LOT of pepper, about a cap-full and a half of vinegar, and some of this great salt that my mom's partner gave me for my birthday--it's got little bits of lemon zest in the grinder--perfect! then, whisk:



once mixed, toss the peas in and toss them around in the vinaigrette:



beautiful! next time, i might add more shallots to the mix and i'd definitely still add the vinegar, maybe even a bit more--but not too much, as i wouldn't want to mask the flavor of the lemon.

to accompany this, i made some quick brown rice (instant--sacrilege, i know) and lemon chicken (which is super easy--fry floured chicken breasts in olive oil, remove from pan once done, add in a ton of lemon juice, half a stick of butter, and a handful of chopped parsley, heat for like, 2 seconds, then pour it over chicken, and leave in the oven--at about 300 degrees--until the rest of the dinner is ready). all that's left after that is waiting for kurt to come home....



...luckily, we have a watch-cat to keep an eye out.