These warm Sugar Snap Peas with Almonds and Sunflower Seeds scream summer, and once you taste this dish you’ll want to eat it every single week.
These sugar snap peas are healthy AND delicious. Blanched so the color remains a vibrant green and then tossed with shallots, garlic, toasted almonds, sunflower seeds, fresh tarragon, and mint. Don’t forget the lemon! Everything about this is so fresh and beautiful.
This dish can be served hot or cold, it’s up to you! If I was eating this for lunch I may opt for room temperature, but for dinner I would choose to serve this warm. You can’t go wrong!
Prep Ahead:
It’s so easy to prep ahead of time, too! Make all your components separately (you can even do this the day before). Blanch the sugar snap peas. Toast the almonds and sunflower seeds. Sauté the shallots and garlic and cook them down with the chicken or vegetable stock. Store separately, covered in the refrigerator. When ready to serve, toss all the ingredients together with the herbs, lemon, and olive oil. If serving warm, gently heat the peas just until warmed through (you want to keep the vibrant green color), add shallot/garlic mixture, then toss with the remaining ingredients.
Ingredient Notes:
- Sugar Snap Peas – I found these beautiful snap peas at the farmer’s market. They were very fresh and quite large. Snap peas that are not as fresh may cook for a little less time. Once you start your recipe, take a look at your peas, you may need to adjust cooking time by 30 seconds.
- Almonds and Sunflower Seeds – You can use another nut or seed here instead, if you prefer. Pumpkin seeds would be lovely, as well as pine nuts or walnuts. if allergic to nuts, you can do a pumpkin seed and sunflower seed combo.
- Tarragon – If you can’t find fresh tarragon, try fresh basil, fresh oregano, or fresh parsley.
- Lemon Juice – If your lemon is tiny, maybe add some more juice. Taste and see if you need it.
Sugar Snap Peas with Almonds and Sunflower Seeds
Equipment
- 1 Strainer
- 1 Medium Pan
- 1 Small Bowl
Ingredients
- Kosher salt
- 16 oz. sugar snap peas strings removed
- 3 tablespoons sliced almonds
- 1 ½ tablespoons sunflower seeds
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 large shallot halved, peeled, and thinly sliced
- 4 garlic cloves thinly sliced
- ¼ cup chicken or vegetable stock
- 1 ½ tablespoons roughly chopped tarragon
- ¼ cup packed mint leaves torn into pieces
- Zest and juice from ½ lemon
- Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil over high heat. Add snap peas and cook for 3 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare a large bowl of ice water. Drain snap peas and transfer to ice water. Let cool for at least 5 minutes and drain again (at this point they can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator overnight).
- Heat a medium dry pan over medium heat. Add the almonds and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes. Add the sunflower seeds to the pan with the almonds and cook for another 1-2 minutes, stirring occasionally, until toasted and golden. Transfer to a small bowl and set aside.
- In the same large pot used to cook the snap peas, heat a third of the extra-virgin olive oil over medium heat. Add the shallots and a pinch of Kosher salt and cook for 2 minutes, until partially softened, then add the garlic and cook another 1-2 minutes until lightly golden. Add the stock and cook, stirring, until reduced by half. Turn off the heat and stir in the snap peas, tarragon, mint, lemon juice, ¾ of the almond mixture, as much of the lemon zest as you'd like, and the remaining extra-virgin olive oil. Season generously with Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste.
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