Snap Happy

Seasonal recipes always put me in a bit of a frenzy. There is always an extreme sense of urgency that I feel with seasonal recipes. It’s like I think that peaches will be in season for exactly 1 day, that zucchini will be in season for maybe 2 days tops, and that maybe we'll get a week of good tomatoes. It’s not rational. Of course, you do have to be intentional about hitting the seasons before they escape you, but I get a little unnecessarily nutty over it. Just this week I got myself all wound up worrying that I might have missed zucchini season and wouldn’t be able to make Zach his beloved zucchini bread. It’s kind of crazy, and I very much realize it as I type it.

But at least, as demonstrated by this recipe, I didn’t miss snap pea and radish season this year. Whew. We’re a little behind in our season here in Minnesota. We’re still working our way through said snap peas and radishes. And I'm desperately awaiting corn. I have big plans for corn this year.

But for now, I happily made this Sugar Snap Salad with fresh from the farmers market snap peas, radishes, and mint.

It was a delicious salad. Lots of bright and fresh flavors: tart lemon juice, crisp spicy radishes, earthy snap peas, salty ricotta salata, and mint.

And it had sumac, which thrilled me. I thought I certainly would never use it again when I was forced to buy a HUGE bag of it for the teaspoon or so I needed of it last month. But alas, I have used the sumac again. And have even passed on some to a friend who was also going to make this recipe.

So, my reco to you is to snap to it and make this salad before snap pea and radish season escapes you!! Hurry!

Sugar Snap Salad, Adapted slightly from Bon Appetit

1.5 lbs sugar snap peas, ends trimmed off

Kosher salt

3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1 tsp white wine vinegar

½ tsp sumac

1 bunch radishes, trimmed and sliced thinly

4 oz ricotta salata, crumbled

Freshly ground black pepper

2 tbsp chopped mint

In medium pot of boiling salted water, cook snap peas until crisp-tender. Drain into colander and run very cold water over them to stop the cooking. Set aside.

Whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, and sumac.

Place the snap peas, radishes, mint, and ricotta salata in a bowl. Toss with the vinaigrette. Season with fresh ground black pepper.