Pea Shoot Salad with Bacon & Lime

I can't even tell you how many times I've seen recipes for salads that call for pea shoots and I've just just flipped the page knowing I wouldn't be able to find them without going out of my way.  Can you EVEN imagine life without pea shoots?  I mean, come ON! 

Talk about spoiled. 

If I have to go out of a five-mile radius of my home, fuhgeddaboutit. So when I get through the checkout and the clerk mechanically inquires about whether I was able to find everything I needed, I usually say yes, knowing that I'm the odd ball who buys all the strange produce, and they don't really want to know why I can't find fresh morels.  Yanno?

But when I saw the Crunchy Asian Salad with Honeyed Bacon mmmmm....bacon....in the March '08 issue of Food & Wine, I decided I was on a mission.  I had to find some pea shoots.  That meant heading for Whole Foods first, since they're the grocery store that usually has the specialty produce I need.  U.S.U.A.L.L.Y.

I headed straight for the produce section, and lo and behold, with little effort hunting, there they sat in little rectangular boxes:  the elusive pea shoots.  Go figure.  They looked like radish sprouts with really long stems...erm...shoots.  I glanced around for the price and never did find a tag so really don't want to know what I spent for them.  I picked up a couple of packages and wheeled away, giddy that I'd be able to experiment with something that looks like the weeds I get in my garden after a good rain and a few days of grey skies.  Who knew I'd not need two whole boxes of those cute little greens that taste exactly like snow peas.  Nice.  Fresh.  Something my menfolk would call "feed."

I knew the salad required Chinese five-spice powder as well, and I guess finding pea sprouts used up my good fortune, because Whole Foods had none.  It figures.  I decided it was no big deal and thought I'd find a recipe on line that would get me close enough.

Chinese five-spice is a combination of well, five spices:  szechuan peppercorns, star anise, cloves, cinnamon and fennel.  And if you're someone who has a pantry like me -- ahem -- (I can talk about this at length later...) then making your own Chinese five-spice powder is something quite feasible.  Whether you can actually find what you need when you need it is another story entirely.  Except I didn't have star anise. 

I know.  It's pretty shameful.

I improvised.  So, what's new?

Regardless, this is my official entry to "Waiter, there's something in my..." hosted by Andrew at Spittoon Extra...

Pea Shoot Salad with Bacon & Lime

2 slices bacon
1 T. honey
1 T. real maple syrup
1 T soy sauce
1/2 tsp. Chinese five-spice powder
3 T olive oil
2 T fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp. finely grated lime zest
1 T Asian fish sauce
1 tsp. red chili paste
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 lb. snow peas
2 c. pea shoots
2 T torn basil leaves
2 c. spicy salad mix (purchased variety of spicy greens)
3 radishes, thinnly sliced

For the bacon:  Mix in a small bowl, the honey, maple syrup and soy sauce.  Brush onto bacon slices and place under the broiler in a pan that will allow the fat to drip away from the bacon.  Keep an eye on it, as it will burn easily.  Broil until crisp, then place on folded paper towels to cool.

For the salad:  On a serving platter, place the spicy greens.  Tear the basil and sprinkle it over the spicy greens.  Layer the pea shoots on top.  Slice the snow peas into pieces and sprinkle above the pea shoots.  Slice the radishes and quarter the slices.  Sprinkle those over the snow peas.  Slice the bacon into thin diagonal pieces and spread those on top.

For the dressing:  Mix the olive oil, lime juice, lime zest, fish sauce and chili paste until well combined.  Drizzle over salad and serve more on the side if desired.

Notes:  Oh. My.  This is a really spectacular salad.  Even if you excluded the bacon, the dressing is very good, and the crispiness of the veggies, the spiciness....Mmmm...I loved it!  So did the menfolk, and I'm reminding you that one of them is not quite 16. I'm wondering about sauteed shrimp with this already.  For the Chinese five-spice powder, I left out the anise.  What's my rationale?  Fennel is very close in flavor (to me...) so I added a bit more fennel.  Oh.  And some cardamom. In other words, experiment.  Or make sure you have Chinese five-spice powder in your pantry.

And just in case you don't think adding bacon to this salad is enough, we had it with flat-iron steaks seared just right with some some Ichimi Togarashi.

Yes, it was in my pantry.

What can I say?

Comments

[Andrew]

delightful sounding combination; one to try for sure. Thanks for taking part in Waiter.

[Tartelette]

Us, French peeps do eat a lot of baby animals (young and fresh fat) but we do eat a lot of half grown veggies also, like pea shoots. This is about the only thing I can grow in the backyard but hubby often decides the "weeds" have to go! The salad is gorgeous and so nice for a weekend dinner!

[katie]

Living in the back of beyond does have it's drawbacks. Never heard of or seen peashoots. They sound interesting.... but I think the French country peasants (it's not an insult, here - it's a compliment) wouldn't ever think to pick something not full grown and producing. On the other hand they eat lots of baby animals...

[Anticiplate]

Pea Shoots! They don't have them at MY whole foods. I am so jealous.

[kellypea]

Ben you are SOOOOO hilarious. Actually, I do need some serious help. So many little packets of herbs purchased in bulk, dried peppers, a little of this and a smidgen of that. I was going to re-organize my kitchen, began to unload the cupboards without a "plan" that was solid and scared myself to death without finishing...

Peter -- salads are omnipresent in our house. I don't usually post them in the winter because so many people are buried in cold and snow, I'm never sure how well they'll go over. I should institute a "salad day" for myself, right?

Robin, I can't tell you how badly I wanted it, too, and it met EVERY expectation. So yummy!

Ann, the fat drips off all the bacon and you don't really need that much since the flavor is so intense. The rest better be diet food, or I'll have a fit. Diet food should look and taste really well.

Anthony! Hey, I've been wondering about you and your compost. Seriously! How cool that you stopped by. I must send out some serious vibes into the universe or something...And I can't wait to see your peas. After all -- you are my vicarious garden dude. w00t!

Deborah, guess what I just picked up at the store this afternoon? Chinese 5 spice & star anise! Hahahaha! And unfortunately 50 bucks more of stuff I'll just have to cook :)

Hi Jenny! You know, watercress isn't always at my regular store, either. I just don't get it. It's so yummy and peppery. Have you tried it with strawberries? Hahahaha on the 5 spice. Just picked some up at the store this afternoon so I don't get caught again. Donna Hay just LOVES to put it in her recipes...

[Jenny]

Ooh looks yummy. Not sure if I've seen pea shoots in my produce section but I was giddy yesterday when I found watercress without looking! I've been "snacking" on it since!
PS Need me to send you some 5 spice powder? :-)

[Anthony]

You mean that all of those pea sprouts that I have growing under lights in my basement can be eaten? Hmmm... it's tempting but I'm going to stick with my original plan and move them outside to the garden to grow peas. :)

[Deborah]

Well, I've never had pea shoots before. I'm gonna have to start looking for them, because I do have a jar of 5 spice that I have been looking for recipes to use it on!

[annbb]

That looks so good! Think there a snowball's chance that it's low cal enough to qualify for diet eats? (sigh)
I'm makin' it anyway!
ann

[robin]

Oh my god, I NEED this salad!! It looks so perfect and is exactly the type of salad that I always love.

And my pantry was the same way until I organized it this weekend!! Haha, I'm pretty proud of myself! :)

[Peter]

I saw pea shoots in the Asian market last week and they reminded me of Persline. I liked the taste too.

It's nice to see salads come back.

[Ben]

Oh it looks good, it's the bacon, everything tastes better with bacon, right? And you need some Tupperware to organize that pantry, Madre Santa del Cielo! LOL
You are so clever that you can always make things work. Even if you are missing ingredients. I am trying to learn how to do that. I would've freaked and ended up with something completely different. That's why I love to visit your blog because I always learn something new. :)
Cheers!