1/2 cup whole almonds (2 1/2 ounces) *
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound fresh sugar snap peas, ends trimmed
3 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (1 lemon) **
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt ***
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Preheat oven to 400ºF.
Spread almonds on a baking sheet and place in oven.
Toast until almonds are golden and fragrant, 8-10 minutes (*it only took about 6 minutes in my toaster oven).
Remove from oven; let cool completely.
Transfer half the almonds to a cutting board and chop coarsely.
Place remaining half in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade and process until almonds are finely chopped, 15 - 20 seconds.
Stir to combine. (*I didn't chop the first half, but left them sliced. I used my Ultimate Chopper to finely chop the other half.)
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat.
Add peas, (*the recipe didn't call for it, but I sometimes steam them in the microwave for about 3 minutes, so that they are still bright green and crunchy; but either method works well.) lemon juice, salt and pepper.
Stir until all ingredients are well combined and heated through, about 2 minutes.
Sprinkle with almonds and toss to coat.
Transfer to a serving bowl and serve.
I add the almonds along with all the other ingredients and turn off the heat until everything else on my menu is just about ready. I then turn it back on to heat it and blend the ingredients. The effect is that the finely chopped almonds cling to the peas, along with the "sauce" it made.
This mixture of ingredients also works well with asparagus.
Posted by GourmetGal
January 17, 2011