Spring Pea and Cucumber Salad with Feta

Chilly spring pea and cucumber salad

pea, feta, cucumber salad with feta

This pea and cucumber salad is all about celebrating springtime. There’s just something about hitting May and heading into summer makes me crave cold fresh peas. The ones that aren’t even a little bit mushy and almost pop when you bite into them. This salad was inspired by that craving.

Fresh Peas

The Hunt for Good Fresh Peas

Those fresh peas with flowers (above) are very pretty, yes?

Unpopular opinion: frozen peas are actually WAY easier to use than fresh peas AND WAY more delicious if you’re looking for that fresh, cold, silky pea texture. You just have to re-heat them correctly.

It is painful to me to confess this preference. I’ve bought a lot of fresh peas in my time and I DEEPLY want them to be good. And occasionally they are. But I’ve just been burned too many times. So save yourself some heartbreak, and just go the frozen pea route.

To confirm my own preferences weren’t insane, I blind taste tasted my husband with an assortment of fresh and frozen peas and some frozen peas.

Cooked Frozen Peas
Cooked Fresh Peas

Can you tell which peas are which?

(Frozen peas first!)

(Fresh peas second!)

(Unfortunately I think the sprouting fresh peas may be a bit of a give away.)

The fresh peas have an edge in appearance, but in terms of texture?

Frozen peas all the way.

And look, I’m not the only one who thinks frozen peas are in fact better!

Really not the only one.

And my husband agreed! The frozen peas were superior.

Controversy solved.

But what about Corn: To Add, or not to Add?

Spring for me is also about good, fresh, sweet corn. See, for example, my post about strawberry cornbread muffins where I added super sweet corn kernels to the violent dismay of my children.

Super Sweet Corn

So naturally, the deep, burning question for me is whether or not to add corn to the pea and cucumber salad as well as the peas. Am I adding fresh corn to too many things? The answer: NEVER. And you don’t need to add it here, but WHY WOULDN’T YOU?

(Sometimes, though, I don’t add corn. I promise pea and cucumber salad, on its own, is still very good.)

If you want to add it, fresh corn is a bit easier than fresh peas once spring hits. And you can either use fresh or frozen on this one. The nice thing about frozen corn is that it takes up less space (fridge space is high value real estate with three little ones to feed) and less planning ahead is required. I do prefer fresh corn on the margin, but frozen is just so much faster and easier to work with.

The recipe below contemplates using frozen corn, but I include notes below in case you prefer to use fresh. And any corn is of course fully optional, as my children will be pleased to hear.

I think it has to be said, though, that my toddlers will eat corn on the cob. They will also eat it if it is cut off the cob in front of them. But they will not, under any circumstances, tolerate it in a muffin.

pea and cucumber salad without corn

And just for their benefit – here is a sad, cornless pea and cucumber salad. (OKAY it is actually quite good without corn. I just like to needle my children wherever possible.)

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Spring Pea and Cucumber Salad

This is a chilly spring salad that brings the joy of fresh cold peas. There are also cucumbers, herbs, fresh corn (if you wish), and feta to make this a refreshing and light salad.

  • Total Time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: 1 serving

Ingredients

Instructions

1. Prepare the peas (and corn).

Place about 1/2 inch of water into a saucepan. Add the frozen peas and the frozen corn if you are using it. Heat with medium heat, stirring infrequently. As soon as the water gives its first little boiling bubble, give it a final stir, take it off of the heat, and pour off the water. Set aside.

Note that the vegetables will be warm but not hot if you pour off the water immediately. If they are hot, however, pop them in the fridge or freezer for a minute to cool them off.

If you opt to cook FRESH peas or corn, the less you cook them, the better. Cut the corn off of the cob first. Then then throw your peas/corn into a saucepan with about a 1 inch of boiling water in it. Throw the lid on, let it boil/steam for 1 minute, and then dump off the water. Cold veggies are much better for this salad, so consider rinsing the corn and peas with cold water and adding some ice cubes to cool them down fast. Pat your veggies dry before using.

2. Assemble the vegetables.

Thinly slice the shallot and place it into the bottom of your salad bowl. Pour the 1 tbsp of apple cider vinegar over the top. Then chop the cucumber into 1/2 cubes (or thinly slice it if you prefer). Add to the salad bowl and toss with the vinegar. Pour the cold peas (and corn) over the top.

3. Herbs, leaves, dressing.

Roughly chop the basil and tarragon (or dill). Place on top of the vegetables. Then add the arugula over the top. Finally, sprinkle crumbled feta. Drizzle the salad with olive oil and champagne vinegar, and toss.

You can give it a sprinkle of salt if you wish, but the feta is quite salty so I would give it a taste first to see if you really need the salt.

4. Enjoy!

  • Prep Time: 15 min
  • Category: Salad
  • Method: No Cook
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