Primavera, or springtime, is all about peas. But before buying them, bust one open and taste it. You shouldn't have to cook a pea for it to be sweet.
A few years ago I went to my mother's hometown in Calabria in southern Italy. I had a spectacular pasta dish with a fava bean sauce. I asked what the ingredients were, thinking it must be something exotic. It was nothing more than pecorino cheese, pasta water, and fresh fava beans. And it was magnifico.
Fresh is the operative word in the springtime. Ingredients like English peas and fava beans are as good as they get. The cooking must be just right to preserve the delicate flavors.
When cooking these vegetables ahead of time, keep them bright green by pan shocking them. Then dress them simply with gray salt, freshly ground pepper, and wonderful extra-virgin olive oil.
On the show, Michael Laukert shows us how professionals taste olive oil. And with it, I make a barely smoked salmon with a pea and potato salad, a pasta dish of fresh peas and sea scallops just a few hours old, and the fava bean pasta. Nothing too difficult, but on a weeknight, with a tumbler of white wine, it's like that trip to Calabria, on a fork.
