First things first: It’s Easter week, so here are my Easter dinner recipes and Easter side dishes if you’d like to start planning your weekend cooking.
Now, for the the pea salad! There's nothing complicated about it.
Start with peas! Frozen peas are great, and here’s what I do: I let them thaw for just a bit at room temperature, but I don’t let them go all the way. You want them to stay nice and cold and firm so they don’t freak out and get mushy when you mix the salad together.
While the peas are thawing a bit, fry some bacon. I would highly recommend waiting until your husband leaves the house to meet with his father-in-law about an issue with a fence before you do this. Otherwise, the bacon won’t wind up in the pea salad. It will wind up in his mouth.
For supah flavah, slice a red onion (otherwise known as a purple onion) in half and remove the weird core if it’s large like this.
Then slice the onion as thin as you can.
This is way more than I need for the salad, but if I’m going to slice a red onion (otherwise known as a purple onion), I’m going to slice a red onion (otherwise known as a purple onion.) Can I get an amen?
I have no idea what I just said.
One of the defining ingredients in the pea salad I’ve always loved are nice chunks of cheese throughout the whole darn thing. Now, I can’t speak with authority on this since I never watched the Sunday brunch chef make the pea salad, but I’m 80% sure the cheese used in that pea salad was American cheese. It just had that unapologetic American cheese quality about it. I should make an anonymous phone call over there someday and pretend I’m taking a survey of country clubs across the nation and ask them what kind of cheese they use in their pea salads.
(And while I’m at it, I’ll ask them if their refrigerator is running…)
(Man, I love prank calling. It’s a shame it’s a fading art form.)
As for me, I’m using sharp cheddar, just to be rebellious.
Monterey Jack would be nice, too!
Slice the cheese into slices…
Then cut the slices into sticks…
And cut the sticks into cubes.
While you’ve got the knife handy, chop the bacon into little bits…
And grab some parsley and mince it up.
Next, for the dressing, measure some mayo…
And some sour cream…
And put them in a bowl with a little vinegar, salt, and pepper.
And stir it until it’s nice and smooth.
Put the peas into a bowl and plop on about 3/4 of the dressing, reserving the rest for later if you think it needs it.
Stir until the peas are coated…
Then add the red onion…
The bacon…
And the cheese.
Stir it together until it’s all coated…
Then sprinkle in some parsley…
And stir until it’s all mixed. Taste and adjust seasonings—add more salt and pepper if it needs it…
Then cover it with plastic wrap and pop it in the fridge for at least a couple of hours.
When you pull it out of the fridge, give it a stir and a taste and make sure it’s all good. Add a little more dressing if it needs it (sometimes the dressing “disappears” a tiny bit when it sits in the fridge) and definitely add more salt and pepper if it needs it.
Serve it in a pretty bowl with whatever else is on your Easter table! (Note: The salad is even better if you let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes before serving.)
Mmmmm. *Almost* as good as the original!
