On Saturday, I arose to a holiday weekend rarity: no plans, no responsibilities.
With nowhere to be and no one to see, I did my best to revel in the boredom. I made a laborious green juice. I toasted some sourdough and soft-scrambled some eggs. I lit a candle. I threw on a record. Perhaps I’d meander to the farmers’ market, I told a friend similarly enjoying what she called a “Saturday of nothingness.”
It had been longer than I’d like to admit since I last perused the stalls. Rhubarb! Strawberries! Green onions tall enough to bypass a Hinge height filter! In a trance, I scooped up some snap peas, a bunch of radishes, a bridal bouquet’s worth of mint. Much like my weekend, I had no plans for any of it.
Then I saw Hetty Lui McKinnon’s new herby pearl couscous and sugar snap pea salad, which would make quick use of much of my bounty. It’s a pasta salad with grain-salad sensibilities, a distant, springy relative of tabbouleh. You know, the “our dads are best friends” kind of cousin. Snap peas, mint, parsley and plenty of lemon lend layers of bright flavor, and a little unexpected warmth from allspice keeps things balanced.
Herby Pearl Couscous and Sugar Snap Pea Salad
But I bought far more snap peas and mint than any one recipe should call for. I always enjoy my snap peas raw, or simply blanched, but the tender, nearly caramelized vegetables in this crispy baked tofu from Melissa Clark make a compelling case for letting them hang out in a 400 degree oven for half an hour.
Like Hetty’s salad, this sheet-pan meal benefits from a showering of chopped mint. So, too, does Ali Slagle’s snap pea-studded soba salad with grilled mushrooms and tofu, a real spring-to-summer recipe if I’ve ever seen one.
For the days when it doesn’t even feel like spring, let alone summer, Sarah Copeland’s recipe for skillet refried beans is the answer. It’s fresh yet hearty, the perfect marriage of market (snap peas, radishes, scallions) and pantry (canned beans, ground spices, tortillas).
I may pair what’s left of my radishes with yet more beans: Yasmin Fahr’s radish, cucumber and white bean-farro salad or Colu Henry’s white beans with radishes, miso and greens. Yasmin writes that her grain salad, punchy with Dijon, sherry and pepperoncini, takes well to — you guessed it — snap peas and mint. And Colu’s recipe calls for only six ingredients, if you don’t count staples like butter and black pepper (and you know I don’t).
With the quantity of canned beans in my kitchen, though, there’s a high chance I make both. Not that I have a plan. Not that I need one.
Crispy Baked Tofu With Sugar Snap Peas
Soba Salad With Grilled Mushrooms and Tofu
White Beans With Radishes, Miso and Greens
One More Thing!
If you’re looking for early Drink of the Summer contenders, might I offer you a pickle lemonade? It’s no secret that I love a pickle, and, like my girl Dua Lipa, that appeal extends to pickled beverages. Korsha Wilson wrote last week about the allure of pickle lemonade, and having tried the recipe Kasia Pilat developed for us to go along with the story, I can confidently say: It’s nature’s Gatorade.
Thanks for reading, and see you next week!
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Tanya Sichynsky is an editor for the Food and Cooking sections of The Times and the author of The Veggie, a weekly vegetarian newsletter.
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