I recently ate at one of my favorite restaurants, Maialino, Danny Meyer’s trattoria on New York City’s Gramercy Park. Chef Nick Anderer’s food — hearty and exuberantly seasoned versions of Roman staples like tripe in tomato sauce, fried baby artichokes, pasta carbonara and their signature, roasted suckling pig — was, as always, an object lesson in careful simplicity.
As good as all these dishes were, none made as much of an impression on our table as a simple of salad of pea shoots, raw sliced snap peas and English peas, tossed in a clean-tasting vinaigrette with some shaved pressed ricotta.
New York chefs tend to wait a little longer than we do in Denver to roll out their spring menus, but when they do, they are aggressively seasonal, with ramps, morels, rhubarb and peas on every high-end restaurant menu.
This salad is everything a spring salad should be: It is light, bright and full of chlorophyll-rich flavors.
Note: if you can’t find fresh pea shoots, use peppery daikon sprouts or watercress. You can also substitute a firm, aged pecorino for the ricotta salata.
Spring Pea Salad
If you can’t find ricotta salata, use a nice, firm aged pecorino. Serves 4.
Ingredients
8 ounces English peas, shucked
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon champagne vinegar
Salt and freshly ground pepper
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 ounces fresh pea shoots
4 ounces snap peas, washed and thinly sliced
3 ounces ricotta salata
Directions
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Place the English peas in the water, bring back to a boil, and simmer 2 minutes. Drain the peas, shock in a bowl of ice water, then drain again when peas are completely cool.
In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice and vinegar. Whisk in the salt and pepper. Slowly add the olive oil.
To serve, place the pea shoots, snap peas and English peas in a mixing bowl. Add enough of the dressing just to coat. Shave the ricotta salata over the salad. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.
