It's Spring and I'm Feeling Cheeky

It's definitely spring.  The first asparagus spears, strawberries, artichokes and even some lettuce showed up today at the Salinas Farmers' Market at the National Steinbeck Center.  It was hard not to bring it all home, but I restrained myself to some beautiful sugar peas from Flora's Farm, along with some Meyer Lemons.  I also bought some cucumbers, some onions, and some halibut cheeks.

Yeah, that's what I said.  I've had beef cheeks in tacos and they're delicious, but the idea that fish had cheeks - or that I'd want to eat them - never occurred to me.  Plus, even at fresh fish prices, these were pricey (over $20/lb.).  At the same time, I only need enough for one person and I spend more than $10 eating dinner out, so I thought, "Why not?".  The next question was, "What do you do with that?" (which is sort of reminiscent of when I told people I was a political science major at Gettysburg College).  One of the best things about shopping at a farmers' market is that you can get cooking recommendations from the source.  The fish guy told me to "dip them in egg, dip them in flour, and fry them."  I'm taking that a step further and using panko bread crumbs (or you could use Italian bread crumbs, or plain) and making some lovely fried fish for dinner. 

Sugar Snap Peas
You should taste them -- they're just fine raw, as my sister can attest.  We used to sit in my dad's garden and eat them right off the vine.  You want to get an idea of how sweet they are before you start cooking and saucing.  With sugar snap peas, you can eat the pod and all, but you do need pull the strings off first.  If you can't find the strings, just start at one end or the other and snap it off.  The string will come along with it.  Mine are moderately sweet, and I want to boost that sweetness by adding something salty to contrast with it.

I bought less than a quarter of a pound of prosciutto, sliced very thinly.  Ham and peas are good friends (think ham hocks in split pea soup).  I'm making cracklings from the prosciutto and then making a dressing from the little bit of fat that will render.  It's a riff on a Pennsylvania Dutch dandelion dressing I had when I was growing up.  I started by tossing some sliced red onions into some cider vinegar to soak the "bite" out of them.  They should soak for at least an hour, but you can leave them all day.

So here's what I ended up doing:   I put a teeny bit (less than 1/2 of what I bought) of the prosciutto into a cast iron pan with hot olive oil and crisped it up.  Meanwhile, I boiled the peas in their pods for 3 minutes and put them in a colander, and sprayed them with cold water.   I tossed them into the pan with the cooked prosciutto and doused the whole lot with cider vinegar  --- about a tablespoon or two --and a tablespooon of honey.  It was yummy!!  But just for the record, the peas would have been fine on their own, or with a teaspoon of butter or olive oil with a little squeeze of lemon.

Adjust amounts and taste as you go - that's what it's all about.  See you at the market!!!