By Post-birthday week. Caleb is walking with increasing confidence — not the four-step trial runs of the party but proper sustained walking, back and forth across a room, periodically sitting down not because he fell but because he chose to, which is a different thing entirely. He is deciding to do everything now. He has discovered agency. This is going to be a developmental phase with some challenges for CJ and Shanice and a great deal of entertainment for everyone observing from a comfortable distance.
I am back in Tuscaloosa for the week and the house feels like mine again in the particular way it does after a long stretch of Huntsville. The garden needs attention. The okra has been producing while I was away and there is more than I can use even with Dorothea taking her bag weekly. I called Bernice's Table volunteers to take whatever they could before it peaked past its usefulness. Sister Odalys took a grocery bag. Deontay took two. The church kitchen will have okra this Tuesday and that is exactly right.
Kezia starts culinary school in three weeks. She texted Wednesday to say she had received her orientation materials and that her dormitory assignment is with another student who is also focused on regional American foodways, which she said felt like evidence that things were going as they should. I said yes. Sometimes the roommate is the sign that you're in the right place. She sent a photograph of her notebook — the fourth one now — open to a fresh page with her name and the school name and the date at the top. Starting a new chapter exactly as the old one began: with a blank page and a date and her name written clearly at the top. I kept the photograph for a while before I put the phone down.
After I called the Bernice’s Table volunteers and watched the okra go out the door in grocery bags — Sister Odalys’s one, Deontay’s two — I wanted something from the garden that was just for me, something quiet and unhurried. Peas felt right. Not okra, not anything that needed giving away or deciding about, just peas cooked slowly with butter and a little broth until they went tender and sweet in the way only braised things do. There is a French way of cooking them that I come back to every summer, because it reminds me that the simplest garden things, treated with a little patience, are already complete.
Peas A La Francaise
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 3 cups fresh or frozen green peas
- 1 small head butter lettuce, leaves separated and roughly torn
- 1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
- 1/2 cup chicken or vegetable broth
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Instructions
- Soften the onion. In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter. Add the sliced onion and cook gently, stirring occasionally, until softened and translucent, about 6–8 minutes. Do not let it brown.
- Add peas and lettuce. Add the peas and torn lettuce leaves to the pan. Stir to combine with the onion and butter.
- Add liquid and seasonings. Pour in the broth, then add the sugar, salt, and pepper. Stir everything together and bring to a gentle simmer.
- Braise until tender. Cover the pan, reduce heat to low, and cook for 12–15 minutes, until the peas are tender and the lettuce has wilted completely into the broth. Check occasionally and add a splash of broth if the pan looks dry.
- Finish and serve. Remove from heat and stir in the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter until melted. Taste and adjust salt if needed. Transfer to a serving bowl and scatter the chopped parsley over the top. Serve warm.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 160 | Protein: 5g | Fat: 9g | Carbs: 16g | Fiber: 5g | Sodium: 290mg