What the F are Pea Tendrils?

First, I'm sorry for the title, mom.

Second, seriously. What are pea tendrils?

I was given the opportunity to discover this with our CSA box bounty this week. Pea Tendrils are basically the little scraggly off shoots of a pea plant/vine. There are leaves and flowers and curly bits on said tendrils. When I first read the description of pea tendrils online before opening the bag they had come in, I thought they would be something very different. I figured they would be small little whirly bits with some flowers as I could see the purple of the flowers through the bag (the bag had condensation on the inside, which is why I couldn't see the rest).

I had no idea that when I dumped them out on the counter, they would look like a mass of clippings from a garden.

I had planned to incorporate them into a fried rice with garlic whirls and asparagus, but I took a a look at these and doubted my idea. There was only one way to determine if I was making an appropriate culinary choice with these strange new vegetation. Eat one. Raw.

Tastes of fresh peas.

In fact, I'm going to be putting the rest in a salad tomorrow with some Microgreens. And if you've never seen Microgreens before either...

My sister will be so pleased to see that there is dill in our Microgreens, and has been for the last few weeks. She abhors dill, while I find it entirely too refreshing and pleasing in a salad.

My fried rice turned out well. I will attempt to recall the full recipe here, but you know me...


Garlic Whirl, Asparagus, and Pea Tendril Fried Rice

3T (ish) Canola Oil
1T butter (I used unsalted)
1 bunch garlic whirls, trimmed and cut into 1 in pieces
1/3 bunch very thin asparagus, white and purple ends trimmed off bottom and cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 bunch pea tendrils, cut into 1 inch pieces including flowers and leaves
1 egg
2 to 3 T almond milk
2 cups cooked rice
2 to 3 T soy sauce (or Bragg's Liquid Aminos in our case)

Heat oil in large skillet over low heat. I have a cast iron, so I like to turn the burner on simmer while I prep vegetables and slowly drop them in as I finish. A cast iron is much better when heated slowly, anyhow. Place garlic whirls and asparagus in pan and add butter. Cook over low to meduim heat until butter melts and whirls and asparagus are coated. I then prepped my pea tendrils while I let the other vegetables slowly cook in the oils on low heat. Stir in pea tendrils to coat and increase heat of pan to medium low. In a cast iron, by the time this is all finished, your pan will have built up a good heat throughout and hold this heat with decent consistency so that you don't need the burner up very high. I had our electric burner (sim, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, high) at 3.

Push vegetables to side. Beat egg and almond milk together and pour in empty side of pan. Allow to cook completely. It will still look a bit wet because of the oils in the pan, but it won't look runny.

Add the rice to the egg side of the pan and incorporate the two ingredients. Mix with the vegetables and allow everything to cook through; maybe 8 minutes, stirring every minute to two minutes. Add soy sauce by drizzling throughout. Stir to incorporate.

Serve.