flipPetits pois à la françoise
Petits pois à la françoise
Why this dish? Louis XIV's passion for peas remains famous: Madame de Maintenon recounts that the whole court talked about peas, 'the impatience to eat them, the pleasure of having eaten them, and the joy of eating them again.' They were forced in the King's Kitchen Garden to serve to the monarch before the season.
Young peas gently simmered in butter with a heart of lettuce and a few spring onions, just moistened with their own water and bound with a pinch of sugar. A melting, barely sweet dish that celebrates the first harvest.
Know that We relish few dishes with as much contentment as these young peas. Our gardener La Quintinie makes them come before their time, and it is a prince's pleasure to eat them when no one else has any. They are cooked in fresh butter with a heart of lettuce and a hint of fine sugar, without any spice that would spoil their greenness. Taste them thus: We find in them a sweetness from which, I confess, We tire only with difficulty.
- •Early peas, shelled — a good bowlful (main ingredient)
- •Fresh butter — a good piece (fat, binder)
- •Heart of lettuce — one, chopped (tenderness and sweetness)
- •Spring onions — a few (aromatic)
- •Fine sugar — a pinch (enhances the freshness)
- •Parsley — a bunch (herb)
Petits pois à la françoise
Young peas gently simmered in butter with a heart of lettuce and a few spring onions, just moistened with their own water and bound with a pinch of sugar. A melting, barely sweet dish that celebrates the first harvest.
Why this dish? Louis XIV's passion for peas remains famous: Madame de Maintenon recounts that the whole court talked about peas, 'the impatience to eat them, the pleasure of having eaten them, and the joy of eating them again.' They were forced in the King's Kitchen Garden to serve to the monarch before the season.
Know that We relish few dishes with as much contentment as these young peas. Our gardener La Quintinie makes them come before their time, and it is a prince's pleasure to eat them when no one else has any. They are cooked in fresh butter with a heart of lettuce and a hint of fine sugar, without any spice that would spoil their greenness. Taste them thus: We find in them a sweetness from which, I confess, We tire only with difficulty.
Ingredients (period version)
- Early peas, shelled — a good bowlful (main ingredient)
- Fresh butter — a good piece (fat, binder)
- Heart of lettuce — one, chopped (tenderness and sweetness)
- Spring onions — a few (aromatic)
- Fine sugar — a pinch (enhances the freshness)
- Parsley — a bunch (herb)
Ingredients
- Fresh shelled peas (or extra-fine frozen) — 500 g (main ingredient)
- Unsalted butter — 60 g (fat, binder)
- Heart of lettuce — 1, sliced (tenderness)
- Small spring onions — 4 (aromatic)
- Sugar — 1 tsp (enhances)
- Fine salt — to taste (seasoning)
- Water — 100 ml (moistening)
Method
- Melt half the butter in a saucepan, add the sliced spring onions and lettuce, and sweat without browning.
- Add the peas, sugar, a pinch of salt, then moisten with a little water.
- Cover and simmer over low heat for 12 to 15 minutes, until the peas are tender but still green.
- Off the heat, stir in the remaining cold butter to bind the sauce, and serve immediately.
How it was made : In the 17th century, no broth or flour was used: the sauce was bound with fresh butter mounted at the end of cooking, a new technique that distinguished the emerging 'grande cuisine' from spiced medieval cooking. Sugar, still costly, highlighted the youth of the vegetable.
The contemporary twist : Serve warm in a small glass with a veil of chopped mint and a crispy bacon chip balanced on top, a nod to the 'royal first harvest.'
Sources : Madame de Maintenon, Letters (letter of May 10, 1696, on the 'pea frenzy') · François Massialot, Le Cuisinier roïal et bourgeois, 1691 · Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie, Instruction pour les jardins fruitiers et potagers, 1690
Louis XIV · Charactorium
