Peas and Tomatoes

This week in our produce from Irv and Shelly's, we received frozen peas. I was looking for something interesting to do with them and came to this recipe from Cooking in Spain by Janet Mendel. The book we picked up when we lived in Madrid and it has been a great resource for great Spanish food.

Guisantes a la Valenciana

oil

1 lb peas

1/2 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic

1 cup white wine

fresh thyme and parsley

pinch safron

1/4 tsp cumin

salt and pepper

In a pan warm the oil and add the peas, onion and one clove of the garlic.

Add the wine and herbs and cover. Cook for a few minutes until tender.

In a mortar, crush the other garlic with the saffron and cumin and a pinch of salt.

Add in a tablespoon of the cooking liquid and add to the peas.

Season with salt and pepper.

To go with the peas I made stuffed tomatoes with rice. To flavor the rice I used a Chermoula sauce, that I found in Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.

Chermoula

4 cloves garlic

salt

2/3 cup cilantro

1/3 cup parsley

1 1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp cumin

1/8 tsp cayenne

1/4 cup EVOO

juice of 1 - 2 lemons

Crush the garlic with the salt with a mortar and pestle.

Chop the greens and add to the garlic. Smash this together.

Add the spices and liquids.

To fill the tomatoes I used brown rice. I cooked about 1 cup and added about 3/4 of the sauce when the rice was done cooking but still hot.

To prepare the tomatoes, chop of the top, about 1/4 inch from the top. If the tomatoes are very round, slice a very thin piece off the bottom so that they sit flat.

Using a spoon, scoop out the seed and the inner membranes.

Stuff with the rice.

Place in a dish and drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake in 400 deg oven about 20 - 30 minutes.

Serve topped with the rest of the sauce.