Last week, during a brief visit with family in Toronto, I was treated to a delicious dinner at Wah Sang restaurant in Chinatown. Amongst the feast of fried lobster, crispy chicken, squid with minced chiles, snails in black bean sauce, tofu hot pot, Yang Chow fried rice, and stir-fried noodles with assorted seafood was a plate of simple greens, sitting there--quietly, glistening slightly with a touch of oil and sprinkled with garlic. I learned these to be the sprouts of the snow pea plant, and they were delicious. They just tasted so green, which gave a nice balance to all of the meat and fish and starch we were consuming.
As I perused the stalls last Saturday at Eastern Market, I came upon a small display of these very sprouts at the Vang Family Farm stand. I snatched up a bunch and looked forward to trying my hand at them in my own kitchen. With their soft, delicate leaves and curly-queue stems, they were a picture of prettiness.
After rinsing and giving them a gentle tumble in the salad spinner, I sauteed them in some olive oil with minced garlic. With a few turns in the hot, garlicky oil, they turned a bright, bright green, and I hit them with a dash of salt and pepper. These appeared to be a little more mature than those at Wah Sang, so their stems were a bit thicker, resulting in a slightly chewier bite. Although they could've benefited from an extra minute or two in the pan, they were nonetheless delicious, especially with a light drizzle of hoisin sauce.
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