Pea Shoots!

Owing to my somewhat lazy gardening practices last year, I have ended up with a bunch of peas growing in random places throughout this year's garden. A friend of mine told me that pea shoots are actually quite tasty, so I let them grow a bit before picking them. (Believe it or not, I've never tasted them before.) I've now got a healthy bunch of them to use, but I'm not sure how to go about it - apparently pea shoot salads are common, as is using them in stir fries.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

On a side note, I was rather thrilled to find pea shoots at a local farmer's market - and they weren't cheap either! Hooray for untidy gardens!

[Jenise]

Melissa, I adore pea shoots! Within the world of oriental cookery, pea shoots (the very young sprouts of newly planted peas, maybe the first two inches of new growth) and pea leaves or sprouts (what you probably have: the vine has begun growing, and shoots are picked from there) are quite different. Both, however, receive similar treatment: a quick saute, either all by its lonesome (typical of the shoots) maybe with ginger and garlic, or included in a stir fry (the less tender but more forceful flavored and textured young branches of the pea plant.) They're also great raw in salads.

Pretty much what Jenise said. I like them in a quick stir fry with some broccoli, snow peas, carrot or sprouts, crushed garlic and a bit of ginger with Szechuan peppercorns and some rice on the side.

I opted to go for just having them raw in a salad with some baby spinach leaves (sadly, not from my garden).

I guess I had it backwards - I thought pea shoots were the little leafy growths just starting to produce tendrils, while the pea sprouts were the long white stalk growing directly out of the seed, most of which is below ground? Anyway, whatever you want to call them, they were delicious!

Last week at the Farmer's Market, I bought a bag of salad fix'ns as the grower called it... which was all baby things including macro shoots form all sorts of things she grows just for the shoots, and sells them in a clam shell. I love this type of salad in the spring with a simple vinaigrette, and nothing else. Included were pea shoots, so tasty and added a nice touch to the salad. We are having it again tonight, with veal meatballs over orzo, and
sundried tomato, basil, garlic bread, cut into slices, with a little real butter, broiled just until the paremsan bubbles.

Pea sprouts are a regular on my table. They are pretty cheap at the local Asian supermarkets (bought some today for $1.29/lb) and I pick some up almost every week. Another favourite is sugar pea leaves. As others have noted, a simple stir-fry is best. An ample amount of chopped garlic, salt and pepper, a dash of Shaoxing, and some oyster sauce is what I usually use. Sometimes I'll mix the pea sprouts with bean sprouts for variety. It's all good