PEAS PLEASE!!

After grad school in Houston, I moved back to Chicago and was teaching and freelancing in the area. I was lucky to find an awesome aparment on the north side of the city, near Lake Michigan, and I was even luckier to have my BFF living around the corner. This post is a shout out to Liz! Today's her birthday, so, HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIZ!!

Living so near to Liz was beyond fantastic. We both had our weeks packed with long days of driving, teaching, and more driving to rehearsals, and what got us through these days was thoughts of what we were cooking for dinner. For some reason we totally had a period of time where we put peas in absolutely everything, no exaggeration. Peas on salads, peas with garlic and raisins, pureed peas on toast, pea soup, peas with couscous....Liz, am I forgetting anything?

We experimented with so many flavor profiles involving peas, and it was during this time that I really started to think about the cooking process. As a result of all our experimentation with peas, my kitchen and cooking confidence got a real boost (not saying that the many, many bottles of cheap Fronterra wine that we went through that year didn't help!...P.S. Liz I still have all the corks).

We made so many delicious meals with peas, and we totally convinced ourselves that we were amazing enough to open a restaurant. This restaurant would of course be called "PEAS PLEASE!!" Heh, ammmmazing.

In honor of Liz, and peas of course, I'm postinga recipe for pea coulis. What in the world is coulis? Well, I'll tell you! Coulis is just a fancy French term for a sweet or savory sauce, which can be made from either fruits or vegetables. It is usually used to accompany a meat (whatever meat you are using will determine whether you make the coulis from fruits or vegetables). In general, the consistency of a coulis is on the thicker side (for example, thicker than a pan sauce), and the base, either the fruit or vegetable, is pureed until the consistency is smooth and creamy.

A coulis can be paired with many more things than just meat. Think about a warm peach coulis drizzled over a piping hot biscuit. Or perhaps you'd like to drizzle your pea coulis over a dish of crispy roasted potatoes. Ohhhhh, what if you whip up a raspberry coulis, smear it on a plate (we're getting fancy here people) and place a warm gooey brownie right on top?? Okay, I'll stop, my mouth is watering.

PEA COULIS

Olive Oil

1/4 cup chopped shallots

2 cups frozen petite peas, thawed

3/4 cup high quality chicken stock

3 teaspoons minced fresh tarragon

1) In a small skillet, heat a tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Add shallots and saute for about a minute. Add the peas and saute a couple of minutes longer - make sure the peas are heated through.

2) Add the stock. Bring to a simmer. Transfer the mixture to a food processor or blender and add the tarragon. Blend the mixture until smooth - you can let the motor run for a few minutes.

3) Season your coulis to taste with salt and pepper. Viola - you have coulis!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIZ!!!!