More snow peas than you can shake a wok at

The trick to urban subsistence gardening is keeping the yields from overwhelming you. You want to harvest a couple-three meals a day, not 40 all at once, or you either spend all your time trying to preserve things (and store them), or you end up throwing out or giving away too much produce. And as you can see, at this time of year, you get a lot of produce.

I did pretty well this year, largely due to the great management tools at MyFolia.com, which helped with planning out successions.

So, as the title of the post says, I do have an awful lot of snow peas, but the first planting is just about done, just in time for the first of the green beans to ripen. If those act true to past behavior, they should be done just about when the second snow pea planting matures.

But in the meantime, I’ve started running out of things to do with snow peas. (Harvest so far-- about 30 servings.) We’ve had a couple of stir fries and a plain side dish. My son got some, and another impoverished friend just out of college is getting some tomorrow. For the remaining 2 dozen or so in my fridge, I used a altered version of this recipe from Everyday Foods, but didn't have the ingredients. So I used what I had (like all good cooks).

Fettucini with snow peas and salami

12 ounces fettuccine
1 tablespoon butter
1 small onion, finely chopped (1/4 cup)
2/3 cup heavy cream
Fresh snow peas, strings removed
8 slices salami (about 4 ounces total), halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise, about 1 cup
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving (optional)

Set large pot of salted water to boil (4 quart pot)

Meanwhile, make sauce: In a large skillet, melt butter over medium-low heat; add onion or shallot and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add snow peas and sauté until bright green. Add cream, salami ; bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Simmer 3 to 4 minutes. Add lemon juice, continue to simmer.

Cook pasta until al dente, according to package instructions. (Some fettucinis take only 3-5 minutes. Don’t overcook!) Reserve 1 cup pasta water; drain pasta and return to pot.
Add enough reserved pasta water to thin sauce as desired. Pour sauce over pasta; add Parmesan, and season generously with salt and pepper. Serve immediately; top with additional Parmesan, if desired.