Tasting Tuesday: English Pea Salad with Celery and Miso

Husband and I have been adding to our culinary palettes lately as we’ve gone from weeknight staples of meatloaf and baked chicken to red vegetable curry and onion fried rice. Our grocery list has been a little more exciting as we’ve been slowly figuring out the best places to buy roasted sesame seeds, turmeric spice, rice vinegar, tahini sauce, and fresh naan. I sent poor Husband on a wild goose chase a couple weeks ago, though, when I needed both fresh English peas and white miso paste for this beautiful spring salad to accompany my grilled salmon. It took a total of six grocery stores, but he did not give up! (We’ve since learned that Trader Joe’s is the spot for English peas and we have to go downtown to the international grocery store for our white miso paste).

I LOVE the colors of this beautiful salad from my favorite magazine, Real Simple, and I’m considering Husband’s grocery store adventures to be well worth the effort (even though I really didn’t taste the miso in the dressing and probably could have made the salad without it, but I won’t tell him that!) This salad makes a crunchy and flavorful impression and the majority of the ingredients should be easy to find.

Here’s what you need:

• 1 ½ cups fresh English peas (about 8 oz.)
• 1 cup thinly sliced radishes (about 4 to 5 medium radishes
• ¾ cup thinly sliced celery (about 2 large celery stalks
• ¼ cup celery leaves
• ¼ cup torn mint leaves
• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 2 tablespoons white miso
• 2 tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

And here’s what you do:

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over medium-high. Add peas, and cook until tender, about 2 minutes. Drain peas, and plunge into ice water to stop the cooking process. Drain peas again, and place on paper towels. Transfer to a medium bowl. Add radishes, celery, celery leaves, and mint.
2. Stir together canola oil, miso, vinegar, water, and lime juice in a small bowl; drizzle over English pea mixture, and gently toss. Sprinkle top with sesame seeds.

Pretty easy, right? At least easier than six trips to the grocery store. Enjoy!

What ingredients have you struggled to find??