Caesar’s Caesar Salad
Pati Jinich, Javier Plascencia
155 ratings with an average rating of 5 out of 5 stars
155
1 hour 40 minutes (including 1 hour’s chilling)
Snap Pea Salad With Walnuts and Parmesan
Updated Oct. 12, 2023
- Total Time
- 30 minutes
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 20 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:3 to 4 servings
- Salt and black pepper
- Ice, as needed
- ½pound sugar snap peas, trimmed (about 3 cups)
- 1teaspoon lemon zest plus 2 tablespoons juice (from 1 lemon)
- 1tablespoon Dijon mustard
- ½cup toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped
- 1½ounces Parmesan or pecorino, shaved with a vegetable peeler (about ⅓ cup)
- ¼cup mint leaves (optional)
Preparation
- Step 1
Bring a medium saucepan of salted water to a boil. Prepare a bowl of salted ice water. Drop peas into the boiling water and cook until bright-green and crisp-tender, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Drain the peas, then transfer them to ice water to cool completely. Drain well, shaking the colander.
- Step 2
Return the snap peas to the empty bowl. Add the lemon zest and juice, mustard and a generous grinding of pepper. Stir vigorously until the peas are evenly coated. Stir in the walnuts, Parmesan and mint, if using. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Step 3
Eat at room temperature or cold. The salad can be made ahead and refrigerated for up to 3 days. Add the mint just before serving.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
DJ
First time: made without mint as I was out, and with shaved Parmesan instead of Pecorino Romano, same excuse. Tasted the lemon-mustard dressing before mixing with blanched peas, added a bit of olive oil because it seemed a little too bright. Didn’t toast walnuts because I have a bad track record with burnt nuts. After combining and allowing to rest for a bit, thinking next time — more mint, less olive oil. Nonetheless this is a great combo and I look forward to adding to my summer rotation!
Anne
Simple and delicious. The lemon and mustard flavors did not overwhelm the snap pea sweetness and slightly bitter toasted walnut taste. The cheese was perfect as was the crunchy texture. I did not use mint, and I'm not sure that it would add anything. Altogether, a perfect salad of minimal ingredient fussiness.
Beanstock
Perfectly crisp, fresh and bright. The mint is actually essential to the flavor and brightness. I also added some fresh dill since I have it in the garden, and gave the salad a light sprinkle of toasted panko. I will make this as long as the season allows - a perfect late spring salad!
Pamela
Personally, I would add the dressing right before eating because if you let it sit in the refrigerator or elsewhere, the lemon juice will dull the bright green color of the snap peas. That would be a shame, as the intent here is bright flavor and bright color!
Jean
A bit less lemon juice. Liked the mustard in it. I added no oil at all. Will eat later. Will add some mint then and maybe some shredded basil also.
wendyonmaui
The peas I got had really tough skins, so I just used the peas, added shredded cabbage and cucumbers and followed the rest of the recipe. This would work well with green beans instead of peas.
Suze
Wow! So simple; was surprised that no oil or salt could make for such a great dish. Used local snap peas from local farmers and served with rye sourdough (with butter.) Yum as will do again.
colleenrain
Tried this as written on my just picked snap peas. It’s a very bright dressing that drowns out the sweetness of the peas. The walnuts added a bit of grounding but not enough. We added olive oil and shoyu for depth and served it on romaine. I think the recipe would benefit from either crumbled bacon or minced anchovies in the dressing,
M.J.
This was tasty and a different way to prepare all the sugar snap peas a summer garden produces. I made minor changes due to ingredients on hand — toasted salted pepitas for walnuts, shaved pecorino for Parmesan, and added a dash of EVOO. Kept the mint for a bright spot.
Mona
Tasty. I followed the recipe except that I used vegan parmesan & lots of extra, so the whole dish was vegan. Used farmer’s market sugar snap peas.
AJM
Pull strings from both sides of peas
Susan F
Absolutely superb!! I have made this a few times exactly as written. The other day, I added about ten tiny tomatoes cut in half for extra color--very nice. And for a vegan friend, I used Violife Parmesan, which has a mild Parmesan flavor and shaves beautifully.
Bree
Delicious and refreshing. Perfect for a warm spring day. I used raw snap peas instead of blanched, and it worked out perfectly. The mint really added a nice note to the dish. Will make again.
taoschris
Living at an altitude of 7,000’ above sea level, all cooking times need to be adjusted. I cooked the sugar snap peas for a few minutes but I guess all sugar snap peas are not created equal because mine were tough and stringy. An unfortunate waste of lovely, mustardy, toasted walnuts and Parmesan shreds.
Susan F
So, so good! Got some fresh snap peas from the farmers' market and toasted raw walnuts. The shaved parmesan topped it off. Will definitely make this again and again!
Martha in Louisville
Made this for Easter and it was surprisingly good! I ended up making 2 lbs of peas but only doubled the dressing; I think it would have been too lemony and mustardy if I quadrupled the recipe. Will definitely make again. Yummy!
YogiCook
It just didn't land well for crew. Nothing "wrong", just not that good. Maybe a splash of coconut aminos would amp up the umami? You would think the Parm would take care of that though. So the 3 or 5 is b/c taste. Easy to follow however :)
Andrea
This was really simple and tasty. I used both the mint and the walnuts. I would dry the snap peas next time after they come out of the strainer. They retained a little water, which made the dressing too loose in my opinion. Otherwise, great salad.
ni
Great recipe. Easy for weekday or weeknight side or main if you increase quantity. I didn’t have mint so as herb substitute I used Trader Joe’s chimichuri .
Hannah
Eh. Pungent mix of flavors which don't really seem to go well together. Not really worth the hassle in my opinion.
Anne
I made this for a dinner party and nothing was left! I always make the first iteration of a recipe exactly as written. In this case...the first iteration will be the forever one. Delicious and looks great, too.
MES
I used a bit of celery to supplement the sugar snaps, cooked the same way, just as sweet; more shortages meant adding pecans and sunflower seeds to the walnuts, also good. I have chocolate mint growing in my front yard. It may not be to everyone's taste, but the people I served this recipe to loved it.
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