Cassell's dictionary of cookery

Peas, Green (a French mode of cooking : another way). — Melt one ounce of fresh butter in a saucepan. When it is dissolved without being the least coloured, throw in a quart of peas. Shake them over the fire for a minute or two, then pour over them as much boiling water or weak stock as will barely cover them, add half a tea-spoonful of salt, half a tea-spoonful of pepper, the heart of a lettuce finely shred, three young onions, and a small sprig of parsley. Simmer gently until the peas are tender. Take the saucepan from the fire for a minute, and in order to thicken the sauce stir in the well-beaten yolks of three eggs. The peas must not boil up after the eggs are added. Serve the peas on a hot dish with the sauce poured over them. Time, half an hour. Probable cost of peas, 8d. per peck, when in full season. Sufficient for four or five persons. Peas, Green (a French mode of cooking : another way). — Take two quarts of green peas, and put them in a panful of cold water with three ounces of butter. Work the peas in the water, so that their surface may be equally smeared with the butter, that they may adhere together. Drain off the water, take out the peas by handfuls, and transfer them to a colander. Stew them over a moderate fire with some green onions and a bunch of parsley ; dust a little flour over them, and stir carefully ; next pour over the peas just enough boiling water to cover them. Boil fast till the water is evaporated, then put in a lump of sugar, moistened, that it maybe more quickly dissolved, and a little salt. Have ready mixed two ounces of butter with some flour ; stir it into the peas, and let it be equally distributed among them. Then serve. Peas, Green (a la Paysanne). — Prepare the peas as in the preceding recipe. Take a handful of parsley, a few green onions, and a few cabbage and cos-lettuces, wash them, and break, instead of cutting them. Drain them from the water, and put them with the peas over a very slow fire. No other moisture than the butter will be required. Be careful, by stirring the contents of the stewpan repeatedly, that they do not bum. When done enough, add pepper and salt, and serve. Peas, Green, Boiled.— Choose peas which are young and freshly-gathered. Do not shell them until just before they are to be boiled. To boil a quart of peas, put two quarts of water into a saucepan, and with it a quarter of an ounce of salt. Let it boil, and skim it well, then throw in the peas, and let them boil quickly without being covered until they are tender. As soon as this point is reached, take them at once off the fire, or they wiU quickly break, and their appearance be spoilt. Drain them, put them into a clean saucepan with three ounces of fresh butter, sprinkle half a tea-spoonful of salt upon them, and shake them over the fire until the butter is melted. Serve immediately. A bimch of mint is frequently thrown into the water with the peas ; but before doing this it is well to ascertain if the flavour is liked, as some persons have a strong objection to it. Instead of being shaken up with butter, green peas are sometimes served with a handful of finely-, chopped mint strewn over them in the tureen, pats of fresh butter being served separately in a cooler. Time to boil, young fresh peas, a quarter of an hour ; large old ones, twenty-five minutes or more.