DIY APPETIZER: Catalan Pea Shoots

Peas are showing up on purportedly locavore menus around town, but honest local pods won’t debut at Greenmarket for another month or so. Until then, we like to pre-game with PEA SHOOTS, which are literally popping up all over and contain the true taste of the finished product, minus the waiting. (It’s even easy to grow your own: just plant some peas and in a fortnight you can snip the greens—about as close to instant gratification as a gardener can get.)
Speaking of must-get goods, the In Season cookbook, from my idols Rob & Robin over at New York mag, is almost as essential for Greenmarketeers as canvas bags and cash. The book contains more than 150 recipes from market-minded kitchens including this one, from Mercat:

Catalan Pea Shoots
Serves 4

1 pound pea shoots
½ cup pine nuts
½ cup raisins
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Salt
2 tablespoons good olive oil

Over medium-high heat, in a pan large enough to hold the pea shoots, cook the pine nuts and raisins in the butter until the nuts start to brown. Add pea shoots and a pinch of salt, and stir until shoots cook down, about 30 seconds to a minute. Taste, add more salt if you like, leave excess butter in the pan and finish with a drizzle of olive oil.

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