Green Pea & Feta Salad Recipe – Spring In A Bowl

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We’re back to the joys of seasonal eating again with amazing seasonal recipes. A spring pea and feta salad recipe – with some extras.

This will be a salad that can be amazing side or a perfect light lunch.

A cross section of a bowl containing a pea and feta salad. Red beets and chopped cashews are also visible. — Spring flavors in this pea and feta salad

At this moment the stalls in the local markets are packed spring vegetables.

Crispy leafy greens and fresh herbs.

Peas

And recently we haven’t been able to resist buying it fresh peas (peas) at the Sunday market in Çalış.

Just like summer, when I love shelling beans for our barbunya pilaki recipe, shelling peas is one of my favorite pastimes.

When it comes to these delicious spring sweet peas, however, sometimes it becomes a case of one for me, one for the bowl!

A closeup of a bowl with green peas in pods. Above the peas is an open pod. — Pureeing peas: a happy pastime

A satisfying pop upon opening the pod. And then that delicious crunch: your share of peas in the pod.

The rest goes into a bowl, ready for your pea salad.

Once all the peas have been podded, that beautiful vibrant green simply screams the color and texture of spring.

And for us, they beg to be the main ingredient of a salad recipe.

A photo taken from above of a blue and white bowl full of freshly shelled peas. — Spring in a bowl – freshly shelled peas

When the peas are young, they can be eaten raw.

But for our pea and feta salad we really want to bring out the sweetness of the peas.

And we also want a more emerald color!

To do this, we will boil the peas over medium-high heat for no more than 5 minutes so that they are al dente.

After 5 minutes, to further stop cooking, we drain them in a colander Then dip the peas in cold water.

You can use ice water if you want, but we find that cold water does the trick.

If you want to add snow peas OR sweet peasthese are also in season right now.

And if you can’t get fresh peas of any kind, good quality frozen peas will do.

Feta cheese? Or not?

And what more perfect spring partner for your fresh peas than some Spicy and salty feta cheese?

This is if you can’t find the Turkish equivalent – feta cheese (white cheese).

In our case we obviously use Turkish white cheese. A low-fat version.

Not for dietary reasons.

Just for the simple fact that we prefer the firmer texture of the low-fat version of beyaz peynir when making salads.

It is more like the consistency of the feta cheese that many of us are familiar with.

A bowl of salad taken from above. Pea and feta cheese with beetroot and cashews. — This pea and feta salad makes a great main meal or side dish

In Turkish cuisine, you are most likely to see beyaz peynir as part of your Turkish breakfast’s cheese selection, but it is also sometimes used in salads.

Akdeniz salatası, melon salad and chickpea salad love a few pieces of white cheese.

So our pea salad can have the same treatment.

And all the rest

Of course, we won’t just enjoy a bowl of peas and feta cheese – nice enough as that would be.

We want lots of extra texture and spring flavors.

Olive oil: Olive oil is far from cheap these days. But a good salad deserves the best olive oil you can afford.
Fresh lemon juice: This will be mixed with the olive oil as part of the salad dressing.
Pomegranate Molasses: Well, nowadays we are strongly influenced by the flavors and ingredients of Turkish cuisine. We can’t imagine this salad dressing without nar ekşisi – pomegranate molasses.
Local honey: Local honey adds a little sweetness to our dressing. And, together with the local nar ekşisi, we keep our salad ingredients firmly sourced from Fethiye.
Fresh herbs: It’s spring and fresh mint is everywhere! It’s no coincidence that seasonal ingredients complement each other, so a good handful of fresh mint leaves are thrown into our pea and feta salad. As it is our favorite among fresh herbs; coriander!
Little gem lettuce: A small variety of romaine lettuce, it has a slightly sweet flavor. No bitterness.
Grated carrot: We added some grated carrot to our pea and feta salad for an extra crunch and color contrast.
Marinated beetroot: Again, influenced by all the Turkish foods, we want a little turşu (Turkish pickled vegetables) in our salad but nothing too overpowering. This is all about fresh flavors. The beetroot gives us more color contrast and a complementary flavor that doesn’t take over.
Cashew nuts: Why we love walnuts in salad. Walnuts will also work very well.

All of our ingredients come together in a large bowl to create a great salad.

Spring pea and feta salad recipe

Let’s prepare the pea and feta salad: a perfect side dish or light lunch.

We can’t say that this is a traditional Turkish recipe, but it definitely uses all the great local ingredients available at the moment.

So in that sense, it’s definitely Turkish.

We love pea and feta salad with lamb: lamb chops (pirzola), lamb steaks (külbastı) or lamb shish (kuzu şiş).

Pea and feta salad recipe

This healthy pea and feta salad recipe makes a great main meal for a light lunch or works as a tasty side dish too.

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Kitchen Mediterranean, Turkish

Preparation time 45

Time to cook 5

Total time 50

Author Turkey is for life

1 saucepan
1 sharp knife
1 large bowl
1 colander

UK system – US custom

500 grams fresh peas about 250 grams when pod
200 grams feta cheese cut into small cubes
2 little gem lettuce leaves separated and washed
3 spoons marinated beetroot cut into pieces
1 medium carrot washed and grated
1 handful cashew nuts about 30 grams
2 spoons fresh mint leaves washed and roughly cut or torn
2 spoons fresh coriander leaves washed and roughly cut or torn

For Salad Dressing

3 spoons olive oil good quality
1 table spoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon Honey
1 teaspoon pomegranate molasses
1 teaspoon dried mint
½ teaspoon salt season
½ teaspoon Freshly ground black pepper season

If you use fresh peas, first place them in a bowl.
Now add them to the pan, raise the heat to high and pour boiling water over them.
Cook the peas for no more than 5 minutes before draining them in a colander and immersing them in cold water so that they do not continue to cook.
Meanwhile, arrange your small lettuce leaves in the bottom of a large serving bowl.
Cut the feta cheese into cubes and sprinkle them over the lettuce.
Now sprinkle fresh cold peas around the lettuce and cheese pieces.
Arrange the beets around the bowl so you have an even spread of color.
Now sprinkle the grated carrot and chopped fresh herbs, followed by the cashews.
When ready to serve, thoroughly mix the salad dressing ingredients and pour over the entire salad.

The Turkish version of feta cheese is beyaz peynir (white cheese). We use a low-fat white cheese because it is firmer than softer, whole varieties. Feel free to use low-fat feta cheese if you prefer it to full-fat.
This is a great spring salad that will also taste great with other seasonal peas, like snow peas. Young broad beans will also work well.
If you don’t like cooked beets, thinly sliced fresh radishes are also fine.
Do a taste test on your salad dressing before drizzling it on your salad. We usually like to add additional pomegranate molasses.
Please note that nutritional values are intended as a rough guide only and will depend on the ingredients used. Calculations are based on using full-fat feta cheese.

Serving: 1Calories: 340kcalCarbohydrates: 19GProtein: 12GFat: 25GSaturated fats: 9GPolyunsaturated fats: 2GMonounsaturated fat: 12GCholesterol: 45mgSodium: 886mgPotassium: 345mgFiber: 5GSugar: 7GVitamin A: 3412UIC vitamin: 29mgSoccer: 282mgIron: 2mg

Enjoy your meal!