Peas à la Parisienne

History

"Guisantes a la Parisiense" ("Peas Parisian-style") is a recipe in La Mejor Cocinera, Recetas de Cocina, an anonymous Spanish home-cookery book published in Madrid by Editorial Calleja. Its full printed method is brief: the peas are cooked with butter ("manteca de vaca"), salt, a little sugar, parsley, and small new onions; sautéed for a while; the parsley and onions are then removed, and the liquid is thickened ("se traba") with butter and flour. The book presents itself as a practical manual dedicated to the woman of the household — "A la dueña del hogar se dedica este libro de cocina" — aimed at providing tasty, nutritious food economically, "sin grandes dispendios, comida sabrosa y nutritiva." The dish's name is French. "À la parisienne" was in use as a menu name for a peas preparation by the mid-19th century — an 1843 Boston hotel menu listed "Les Petits Pois à la Parisienne" — and the method recorded here (young peas braised in butter with sugar and small onions) is a Spanish rendering of that French style of preparing peas. Beyond the recipe itself, the historical record does not document a specific inventor, origin story, or social meaning for this particular dish.

Ingredients

• peas
• beef lard (manteca de vaca)
• a pinch salt
• a little sugar
• a sprig parsley
• a handful small new onions (cebollitas nuevas)
• lard (manteca)
• flour

Instructions

1. Place the peas in a pot with beef lard, salt, a little sugar, parsley, and small new onions. Let them cook gently, stirring occasionally, for some time until the peas are tender. Remove the parsley sprigs and the cooked onions. Make a roux from lard and flour and stir it into the peas to thicken the dish.