Scorched Sugar Snap Peas with Burrata
At its most basic level, cooking is playing with fire. And as anyone who was ever a kid knows, lighting things on fire can be fun? But dangerous. But fun? Fast forward to the me of today, and now I have no desire to light things on fire, but sometimes I have the desire to get my vegetables really charred over a hot flame. And now that I'm the proud owner of a carbon steel pan (see here), I decided to put it to work this weekend and make a recipe from Sheela Prakash's upcoming cookbook, Salad Seasons; a recipe for scorched sugar snap peas with burrata.
charred onions
The recipe here is so simple, it's almost not a recipe; and yet it's a brilliant recipe because of how simple it is.
Step one: heat olive oil in your pan and add onions. Two: char onions. Step three, remove onions and do the same thing to sugar snap peas.
Now notice what's happening there. This isn't your every day, average "get vegetables brown in a skillet." This is "may-as-well-be-outside-on-a-grill" level charring and it's the best I've ever achieved at home (though it did, indeed, smoke up the house. hehe). The secret was just to crank up the heat to high high high, let that pan get scorching hot, pat the sugar snaps really dry, and to add them a few at a time, in one layer, without moving them around. The not moving them around is key: the longer they sit, the char-ier they get. Season with salt and pepper, then add to the bowl with the onions and add lemon juice, mint, and sumac.
All by itself, these sugar snaps would be divine. But the sugar snap peas with burrata? It's next-level pea-dom.
Whether you're outside this summer charring sugar snap peas on a grill, or inside like me smoking up your kitchen, the point is to channel your inner arsonist and get some black spots on your peas! Your lungs may sue you, but your mouth will thank you.
Scorched Sugar Snap Peas with Burrata
A charry, lemony, minty salad of charred sugar snaps and burrata from Sheela Prakash's upcoming cookbook Salad Seasons.
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided, plus more for serving
1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 pound sugar snap peas, strings removed
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup loosely packed chopped fresh mint leaves
1 teaspoon ground sumac, plus more for serving
1 8-ounce ball burrata
Flaky sea salt, for serving
Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large cast-iron or carbon steel (my pick!) skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the red onion, season with kosher salt and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned in spots, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl.
Add the snap peas to the skillet in a single layer and cook, undisturbed, until charred in spots on the bottom, 2 to 4 minutes. Season with salt and several grinds of pepper. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp-tender and lightly browned in spots all over, about 2 minutes more. Transfer to the bowl of red onion.
Add the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil, the lemon juice, mint, and sumac to the bowl, then toss to combine. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper, as needed
Place the burrata in the center of a serving platter and spoon the snap pea mixture around the burrata. Drizzle with a little more olive oil and sprinkle with a little more sumac and a few pinches of flaky sea salt.
I think it's nice to take the burrata out of the refrigerator when you start prepping the vegetables, so it's not refrigerator cold. Also: if your skillet develops a layer of gunk after all of the charring, add water off the heat while it's still hot (it'll sizzle and spurt) and use a wooden spoon to scrape up any bits that are sticking to the bottom. Makes it way easier to clean later.
Salad
American
charring, onions, sugar snap peas
