Cookbook:English Pea Salad

Cookbook | Ingredients | Recipes

| Cuisine of the United States

English pea salad is a simple salad, intended to be reminiscent of Spring and innocence.

English pea salad is very traditional, rather than being currently in style, and may be more likely served at family gatherings, especially in the U.S.

Ingredients

Basic Recipe

• 1 15 oz (425 g / 445 ml) can of English peas
• 1 tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp chopped white or yellow onion (may be omitted)
• 1 hard-boiled egg, with yolk (or 2 hard-boiled egg whites, without yolks)
• salt to taste
• ground black pepper to taste
• parsley, if desired for presentation

Procedure

You may wish to make the basic recipe a day or several hours in advance of serving, through step 7, then add other ingredients when nearly ready to serve.

1. Depending on your preferences, you may wish to blanch or par-boil the chopped onion in a small amount of water so that the onion flavor is not as strong. If you do so, drain and cool thoroughly before adding.
2. Drain the English peas and either discard the liquid or use for some other purpose.
3. Lightly rinse the peas in a colander and place in a suitable bowl.
4. Chop either the 1 entire hard-boiled egg or the 2 hard-boiled egg whites into about 1/4" (0.5 cm) pieces. If you use the entire egg, the yolk will impart a yellow tint to the salad dressing, while using the 2 hard-boiled egg white (i.e. no yolks) will keep the salad dressing white. You may, if you wish, mash the diced hard-boiled egg yolk and mix it thoroughly with the mayonnaise. Adding hard-boiled egg whites provides a shape and color contrast compared to the green color of the round peas.
5. Add the chopped egg, chopped onion, mayonnaise to the peas and mix lightly until all the ingredients are well distributed.
6. Add salt, ground pepper to taste and mix to distribute.
7. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
8. Serve cold, sprinkled lightly with parsley, if desired, in the manner of a side dish, rather than as a separate course. No additional dressings or condiments would ordinarily be served or expected.

Notes, Tips, and Variations

SOME COMMON ADDITIONS:

• 2 Tbsp very finely chopped (1/8" or 1/4 cm diced) celery
• 1/4 cup (or less) cubed (3/8” or 0.75 cm diced) yellow cheese food product (for example Velveeta). Adding cheese adds a color contrast, however, the cheese can become somewhat soft if the salad is stored. If you make the main part of the salad well in advance of serving, you may wish to wait to add cheese only when you are nearly ready to serve the salad. ]