I am a magazine-aholic. I love them. At our house we have a few food magazine subscriptions that still come in paper form. With everything in life being digital these days, I really love the few minutes I might have to look through some of my favorite paper magazines and tear out recipes or images which I find inspiring. I have a huge stack of these inspirational clippings and just save them up in this gorgeous box my mother in law sent to me one year on my birthday. She actually sent me a bathrobe which I adore and it came in a box that was equally whimsical and pretty so I saved the box and use it just for putting all these papers in. Anyway…sometimes I actually have time to go through it and recently came across an article from Bon Appetit’s April 2013 issue for toast with lemony pea mash. Every time I see it I think oh I am going to make this soon…and I never do. So today was the day.
Ingredients
1 quartered garlic clove
a handful of flat leaf parsley leaves
3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil plus a little more for drizzling
Kosher salt
2 cups of peas (I used frozen)
2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
1 tablespoon finely chopped preserved lemon peel
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
pepper flakes
freshly ground pepper
toasted bread slices
We always have preserved lemons in the fridge. They are easy to make and, if you have been a regular reader, you will notice we use them a lot here and there. They add a lot of flavor. You can buy them at some specialty shops. This recipe was simple to both create and assemble.
Combine the garlic, parsley, 1 tablespoon of oil and a little salt along with 1/2 cup of water in a small saucepan. Add the peas and cook for three or four minutes until just cooked. Remove from the heat and reserve the water. Place the pea mixture in a food processor and pulse until combined. Transfer to a bowl and add the chives, lemon juice, half of the lemon peel, some pepper flakes and the remaining olive oil. Stir in a couple tablespoons of the reserved water so the mixture is thick but spreadable. Season with salt and pepper and more lemon if you like. Ours was lemony enough so we left it.
Drizzle the toasts with oil and then spread with the pea mash adding the remaining lemon peel and a drizzle of olive oil to the top and finishing with a few extra pepper flakes.
The pepper flakes add a little punch and are quickly balanced out by the lemon. Have you ever wanted something you were not used to wanting? That is how I felt about the heat from these little toasts. I am not a spicy food lover. I am really (really) trying to get better about it because it is quite limiting, not liking the heat. With these toasts I took a bite and thought oh a little to much heat for me…and then thought oh I think I want a little more of that. Glutton for punishment I am. Hopefully this will have fewer repercussions than other times in life I though the same thing…
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