Green peas are a vegetable I often cook when I’m uninspired, so I was intrigued when I came across a recipe in a hundred-year-old cookbook for Green Peas Maitre d’Hotel. It sounded so fancy – and suggested that a boring vegetable could be really special. So I decided to give the recipe a try. The peas are immersed in butter, chopped mint leaves, and lemon juice.
The verdict: Green Peas Maitre d’Hotel were nice with a hint of mint, but the mint taste was very mild and nuanced; and I was a little disappointed that the peas in this recipe seemed very similar to just plain peas.
Here’s the original recipe:
Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:
Green Peas Maitre d'Hotel
2 cups green peas
1 tablespoon mint leaves, chopped
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
salt and pepper
In a small bowl mix butter, chopped mint, lemon juice, and a dash of salt and pepper.
In the meantime, cook the peas in a small amount of boiling salted water until tender; drain. Then gently stir in the butter mixture. Return to heat until the butter melts, then serve.
A Hundred Years Ago 
One member of our household is not excited about peas, so I don’t think I’ll bother with this one. Besides, our mint plants haven’t begun to push up from the ground yet this year. It was good of you to try this recipe and report on it.
My mint’s not up yet either. I thought about waiting until later to post this recipe, but then decided to buy some mint at the store.
Maybe adding more mint would help. I miss fresh PA peas.
Yes, I think that adding more mint would bring out the flavor more. I miss PA peas, too – though I have some mixed feelings. I can remember helping shell several bushels of peas in preparation for freezing them. It was a lot of work!
I have plenty of mint. lol
If you have lots of mint, this would be a good recipe for you. 🙂
I love peas and mint, so I’d probably like this one, perhaps with more mint!
Additional mint would add to this recipe.
I find a little bit of mint goes a long way for me.
That’s so true with many herbs and spices.
Peas.. Love them! For some reason peas are hard to grow here … even tried them in the fall when weather is cooler,I got beautiful plants but very little peas. I wonder if it had to do with too short of day light.
It’s strange that peas don’t do well in your garden. I tend to think of them as a vegetable that generally is fairly easy to grow. You might be right that they didn’t like the shorter days the time you tried to raise them in the fall.
Another recipe that sounded very familiar. I am sure that my grandmother put mint in with the peas.
It’s nice to hear that this recipe brings back a food memory.
I was never fond of peas until my daughter in law made fried peas. She started with little olive oil, lots of sliced onions to stir around until turning brown on cut ends. Then add the peas and let cook while stirring. They become dimpled Salt snd pepper at end.