First peas with Beurre Blanc

We ate our first crop of peas (Meteor, planted in January) on Friday night, and I decided to do something special with them (instead of throwing them into a curry where they would be swamped).  I have been reading ‘Made in Italy’ by Giorgio Locatelli and he has a very complicated and delicious recipe for egg pasta with broad beans and potatoes.  He keeps some of the beans and potatoes whole, blends a few to make a puree/sauce, adds freshly-rolled egg pasta, and tosses the veg in butter sauce.  Sounded pretty hard, right?

So I decided to disregard most of it, and just make the Beurre Blanc.  This turned out to be a stroke of genius, although (if the wonder of this was anything to go by) I think it might be worth having a bash at the entire recipe one day.   Like, when I am reeeeeaaaaaally bored.

Here’s how I made it, and I hope you will enjoy it with your green peas (also some shelled broad beans) – pasta is really optional.  I think this would be even better just with green peas and bread on the side.  It’s horribly bad for you.  But it’s a nice Friday treat, if you have been super-good for the week.  And those peas really deserve a nice dressing.

2 spring onions (white parts), finely sliced
2 black peppercorns
100ml white wine
2tbsp double cream (plus more to loosen)
100g unsalted butter

Cut the butter into pieces, put one in a saucepan, and use it to soften the spring onions. Add the peppercorns (and I think a bay leaf or two would be nice) and soften very gently, not allowing anything to brown.  Add the wine and turn up the heat a little bit, to reduce it all by about half.  Add the cream and bubble for another minute.  Turn the heat to low and whisk in the butter, a little at a time, until it’s all incorporated.  Strain the sauce into a warm bowl (throw out the onion/peppercorns) until the peas/beans are ready, then return to the pan, and toss together gently.

Sorry there’s no picture, but we gobbled before we remembered.