Petite Pois also known as Roux Peas
It’s an every day side but also a staple at holiday tables across S. Louisiana – think Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter. It’s one of the few dishes I vividly remember my grandma making and there’s good reason for that, it’s that good.
I wish I had a bit of history about the peas or at least some folk lore, but I got nothing. Zip. Nada. Head bowed in shame. Eat it over rice or to make it super special, eat it with farre, a meat dressing that is found only in a small pocket of Louisiana. For everyday it goes really well with smothered chicken or pork chops.
Sweet peas slowly simmered in a roux brings a depth to the bright peas. Let that rich gravy seep into rice and that’s all that you’ll want to eat. Literally. I had a cousin who survived childhood on that and shrimp.
The recipe is made for a crowd, but you can easily scale it back or freeze it for later use.
Roux Peas Ingredients
6 Tbl whole wheat flour
8 cans of very small early young peas
2 Tbl butter
1 onion (need about 2.5 c chopped onion)
1 ½ tsp black pepper
¾ tsp cayenne
Salt (maybe)
2 Tbl minced garlic
Roux Peas Directions
If your smoke alarms are prone to going off, deactivate it for a bit. Turn your exhaust fan on high and open a window.
Heat a large frying pan, on medium low heat. Spread the flour on the bottom of the pan. There’s not an easy indicator for the optimum pan temperature, but you’ll get the hang of it. If your flour immediately starts browning, it’s too hot. If you don’t start smelling toasted flour after 5 minutes, it’s time to turn up the heat.
Once you smell the flour, start stirring it. You can cheat it a little and not stir for short periods of time, but you want to mostly stir constantly. Keep stirring until the flour is slightly darker than peanut butter. If it starts browning too quickly, you can pick the pan off the burner for about 15-20 seconds.
If you’re using white flour, go for peanut butter color. Whole wheat flour will need to be a little darker. Once you master the heat level, the cooking time should be about 10-12 minutes. Smell that lovely aroma? It’s what every good Cajun kitchen smells like.
Open a can of peas. Taste the brine. If it’s two salty, use half brine and half water. Pour 8 cans of peas and their brine into a 6 quart pot. Add the 6 Tbl roux and 2 Tbl of butter. Turn the heat up to a boil. Cover the pot. Once it boils, reduce it to a simmer. Taste. It will be rouxy, but you need to know what that flavor and texture is because you don’t want that in your final product.
Slice off both ends of the onion. Slice it in half pole to pole. Remove the papery layer. Slice it in thin strips pole to pole. Slice it across to create a small dice. Add it to the pot.
Add 1 ½ tsp black pepper and ¾ tsp cayenne to the pot.
Take garlic cloves and slice off the dry end. Lay the knife flat over the clove. Give the knife a good whack with the exterior of your fist. Remove the papery skin. Rock your knife back and forth to create a mince. Add 2 Tbl garlic to the pot. Let simmer about 30 minutes.
Taste it. It might be a little “rouxy” and too garlicky. But I want you to taste it for salt. Add salt if necessary. Give the pot a quick stir about every 20 minutes. You’ll simmer it for about another hour. The liquid should be thick enough that it will grasp rice. If it’s too thick (it’ll be a little hard to stir, add water. If it’s too thin, leave the pot uncovered. Taste and adjust anything as needed.
Serve over rice. Make sure you have more peas than rice. The rice will mute flavors and we can’t have too much of that!
Notes
Make sure you use very early small young peas. This is not the time for the big balls.
If you’re sensitive to can tastes, you can drain out all the brine and add water as a replacement. The roux will cut the canned taste so it doesn’t bother me.
