I need not sing to you the praises of the pea. Even frozen and trapped in little white bags from the freezer section they are damn good. But fresh peas are magic. They are also rare, fleeting, and require a good deal of labor to get the goods out. It's best to start the shucking when there is at least one person sitting around your living room, reading a book, sipping a cocktail or picking their fingernails. Dump the pods out on the counter, moan a little, and see what they do. Nine out of ten jump in and rock it out with you. So buy a bag and get into it.
This is what we did with our peas. Stuffed them inside a little pocket of fresh egg pasta. Check my thoughts on fresh pasta here. For the filling I blanched the peas, then pureed them with some sauteed leek, fresh Bellwether ricotta, lemon zest and parm. For ravioli, we liked the pasta rolled out quite thinly, on our machine (Kitchenaid attachment) it was a #7. Full recipe here.
