[Food] Mushy peas with yer Christmas dinner…

[Gwylan]

Mushy peas and cauliflower cheese are both a staple Christmas Day dish in the Fantana household.

We're having mushy peas and cauliflower cheese (as well as parsnip loaf, sprouts, carrots and red cabbage)

It's a feast of vegetables - no meat - but a feast of vegetables

I don't like the idea of frozen mushy peas - I make my own with shallots and mint

 

[Stato]

I'm currently reading 'A Christmas Carol' to get in the mood. As Dickens puts it when writing of Fezziwig's ball:

“He has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil. Say that his power lies in words and looks; in things so slight and insignificant that it is impossible to add and count ’em up: what then? The happiness he gives, is quite as great as if it cost a fortune.”

If mushy peas makes someone happy, give 'em mushy peas. In return they'll give you their happiness and your Christmas will be more enjoyable.

 

[wunt be druv]

Mushy peas with Christmas dinner is grim but what really disturbed me the most reading that post was the putting of baked beans in Spaghetti Bolognese, now that is a crime against all culinary decency, a step too far that could justify the return of the death penalty.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

I'm currently reading 'A Christmas Carol' to get in the mood. As Dickens puts it when writing of Fezziwig's ball:

“He has the power to render us happy or unhappy; to make our service light or burdensome; a pleasure or a toil. Say that his power lies in words and looks; in things so slight and insignificant that it is impossible to add and count ’em up: what then? The happiness he gives, is quite as great as if it cost a fortune.”

If mushy peas makes someone happy, give 'em mushy peas. In return they'll give you their happiness and your Christmas will be more enjoyable.

This. All we are saying is give peas a chance

 

[Goldstone1976]

I don't like the idea of frozen mushy peas - I make my own with shallots and mint

Recipe and method please?

 

[jakarta]

Everything has its place in the Universe;

Mushy Peas were invented to go with Fish and Chips, but placed anywhere else they tilt the whole of Creation towards Chaos...

 

[lawros left foot]

Dried marrowfat peas, steeped overnight in water and bicarbonate of soda, simmered slowly for about 2 hours, salt and vinegar added.

It’s a bit of a faff, isn’t it?

 

[PeterOut]

With the greatest respect, you are drifting towards sounding like one of those chefs who refuses to allow a salt cellar on the table of their restaurant - 'my food is perfectly seasoned, they will ruin it if they add more seasoning'.

As a good host, your role is to make your guest's stay as pleasant as possible. If that means plonking a bowl of mushy peas on the table for them to dig into - and the only effort on your part was to shove the bowl in the microwave for 2 min - then so be it.

Of course, their role is to be the perfect guest too, and not to ask for / insist on anything as silly as mushy peas with dinner (unless you are serving fish and chips for Xmas lunch). However, they are clearly unaware of their gross culinary failings, so the appropriate thing to do is to smile and serve up.

As an aside, I detest sprouts (devil's food, for me) but will still happily cook and provide them for those who (weirdly) do like them, in any style that they prefer. Oh, and when I first met my my future brother-in-law, he insisted on putting large amounts of both mint sauce and tomato ketchup on just about every meal that was put in front of him - in comparison, a small bowl of peas, mushy or otherwise, pales into insignificance!

Like it or not, we are all products of our upbringing.

Enjoy your Christmas break

 

[dazzer6666]

Hmmm. Can’t stand mushy peas myself, but as the host it’s fair to make a concession or two for any visitors. Microwaving a bag of mushy peas for the table to satisfy the whims of a few dirty Northerners to maintain ‘goodwill to all men’ etc is probably just about reasonable, if even it is wholly wrong. We’re having beef but Mrs D has insisted on having apple sauce FFS (I hate that as much as I hate mushy peas), but I’ll do it as the path of least resistance.

As for veg, parsnipchips, roasted carrots, GARDEN peas and broccoli.

 

[BN9 BHA]

I don't like the idea of frozen mushy peas - I make my own with shallots and mint

Surely that would be mushy shallots.

 

[Gwylan]

Recipe and method please?

Lightly fry a shallot (or two if they're small) in some butter and add peas (frozen or fresh), cook with some vegetable stock and a good handful of pint. Add half a teaspoon of sugar, salt and pepper and then give a quick whizz with hand blender. You should get a nice bowl of green goodness with a slight taste of mint.

My son, who thinks vegetables are the devil's work, will eat a massive portion of it (which is why it's part of the Christmas dinner)

 

[Is it PotG?]

Made a nice minted pea panna cotta a few weeks back, were gert lush.

 

[Bry Nylon]

Mushy peas with yer Christmas dinner…

Probably the clearest case for a permanent ban you’ll ever see

 

[A1X]

Mushy peas on a Christmas dinner?

Sorry, have I woken up in some sort of nightmarish Dickensian world of poverty and squalor? If I open the window will some passing street urchin offer to get me a goose from the butcher's shop for a shilling?

 

[rippleman]

Mushy peas have their plaice. And that is on a plate of fish & chips. Xmas dinner? No, nay, never!

 

[Poojah]

Right, I think I’m sold. They’re going in the wheelie bin, with all of the marital carnage that will no doubt ensue.

Yes, I’m northern, but I ain’t that northern.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Mushy peas are an abomination and shouldn't be anywhere near a roast, let alone Christmas dinner.

Mushy peas have their plaice. And that is on a plate of fish & chips.

I once stormed from a restaurant that unexpectedly served me mushy peas instead of garden peas with my fish and chips. It's just so wrong and northern.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Mushy peas with ANYTHING = Not for me, Clive.

 

[dazzer6666]

Right, I think I’m sold. They’re going in the wheelie bin, with all of the marital carnage that will no doubt ensue.

Yes, I’m northern, but I ain’t that northern.

 

[Goldstone1976]

Lightly fry a shallot (or two if they're small) in some butter and add peas (frozen or fresh), cook with some vegetable stock and a good handful of pint. Add half a teaspoon of sugar, salt and pepper and then give a quick whizz with hand blender. You should get a nice bowl of green goodness with a slight taste of mint.

My son, who thinks vegetables are the devil's work, will eat a massive portion of it (which is why it's part of the Christmas dinner)

Many thanks!