Snap Pea Salad
The Breslin, The John Dory Oyster Bar, Salvation Burger, Salvation Taco, The Spotted Pig, and White Gold, NYC
For April Bloomfield, the perfect sugar snap pea is worth the wait. "When at last I do find perfect snap peas, I make this salad," she says. "If you'd like, you could add some creamy goat cheese in blobs or good old burrata alongside".
(From A Girl and Her Greens by April Bloomfield. Copyright 2015 April Bloomfield. Excerpted by permission of Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.)
Ingredients
Simple Lemon Dressing:
- 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 3/4 teaspoon Maldon or another flaky sea salt
Salad:
- 1 pound sugar snap peas, trimmed and strings removed (see note)
- A five-finger pinch of mint leaves (preferably black mint), roughly chopped at the last minute
- 1/4 cup Simple Lemon Dressing
- Maldon or another flaky sea salt
- Lemon juice
- Large handful delicate, peppery arugula
Method
Make the dressing: combine the ingredients in a container with a tight-fitting lid and shake well until the mixture looks creamy. Taste and add a little more oil, lemon, or salt, if you’d like. Set it aside until you’re ready to use it and shake again just before you do.
Make the salad: so long as you find the right snap peas, you’ll have a smashing salad. But I find that putting your knife to them adds even more excitement, a little textural variation and attractiveness. Accordingly, run the tip of your knife along the spine of some of the larger pods, open them like a book to expose the peas, and gently pull to separate the two sides of the pod. Slice others diagonally in half or thirds. Keep small ones whole.
Combine the peas and mint in a large bowl. Pour in the dressing and toss gently but well. Season to taste with more salt and lemon, if you’d like. Add the arugula to the bowl and toss gently to coat the leaves in the dressing without bruising them. Arrange it all prettily on a platter and serve straightaway.
Yield
about 4 cups
