Cream Those Leftover Frozen Peas For A Delicious Side In No Time At All

Payday is coming up, but right now, you are scrounging around your pantry, gathering ingredients to assemble into dinner. Half a bag of frozen peas is left, making you wonder if you can make a complete meal out of it. The answer is: Yes, you can, and what you need to make is creamed peas.

Creamed peas is a comfort food dish for those who grew up on a budget, as it is a delicious and easy way to stretch pantry items. It is essentially shelled peas bathed in a creamy, roux-based sauce flavored with salt and pepper. There are varying accounts of its origins; as some tout it as a dish from the Great Depression, it is possibly a cheap alternative to creamed chipped beef, a dish served in military mess halls during World War I. Another story is that creamed potatoes, which have been around since about the same time as chipped beef, eventually evolved to include additional ingredients with the seasons, such as spring peas.

Whatever its origins, creamed peas can be made simply these days. You can make a satisfying meal with relatively few resources using just leftover frozen peas and a loose bechamel sauce.

The creamy white sauce is the main component of creamed peas, essentially an American counterpart of French-style béchamel sauce. While you can make the full-fledged French version, come the end of your pay cycle, just using butter, flour, and milk will do. As mentioned earlier, creamed peas is seasoned quite simply with salt and pepper. However, if you have any spices that need using up, sprinkling them in will not hurt. A little nutmeg would be welcome to evoke classic béchamel or even a sprinkle of paprika or cayenne to spice things up. 

Once you make the sauce, stir in the frozen peas straight from the freezer. The peas will take no time to warm through, after which dinner is served. If other ingredients are languishing in your freezer, fridge, or pantry, you can also incorporate those. Onions, cauliflower, mint, and even bacon make delicious additions to creamed peas.

While the conceit of creamed peas is that it is a budget dish, it is most certainly tasty enough to be served even when riding the (white) gravy train. When those days roll around, there are many dish options to serve with creamed peas. The classic budget accompaniment is a piece of toast that is handy for mopping up the leftover cream, but you can also enjoy it by serving it with a thick slice of French bread as well.

For other dishes, think of where peas generally would not be out of place. Serve it on the side of a cut of steak or lamb chops, or as a bed for seared seafood. Swap out the mushy peas sometimes served with fish and chips with creamed peas. When all is said and done, all we are asking is give peas a chance.