Photos by Signe Birck

Happy Friday everyone! I don't know about you, but I'm really glad it's the weekend. We are heading out of town Sunday, and it can't come soon enough. This week has been a tad crazy trying to finish up writing deadlines, fit in meetings, run errands, and check off an endless list of to-do's before we leave town. In the midst of it all, I hosted an impromtu wine tasting on Monday night with my sommelier friend Olivier Magny (who has a new book coming out today...stay tuned for a post next week!) and am just now getting around to washing a countertop full of red-stained wine glasses. Not to mention a sink-full of dirty dishes. I suppose if perfect is boring, I must be incredibly interesting. Ha!

Just wanted to kick off the weekend with a few more delicious spring recipes using two of my favorite ingredients: spring peas + mint. For either recipe below, get a pot of water boiling and prepare a bowl of ice water. Pour a glass of rosé and have a friend (or spouse or roommate or child!) help you shuck the fresh peas – it really goes by quickly when you've got two sets of hands!

Pea Salad

Drop the shelled peas into the pot of boiling water for just a few minutes until they are tender-crisp and bright green, drain, then plunge them into the ice water. (That will stop them from becoming mushy!) Now you're ready to prepare either of the recipes below – crostini with fresh ricotta and an easy pea-mint pesto or a light salad with peas, mint, arugula, ricotta salata and pine nuts. Enjoy!

[recipe:best-crostini-fresh-ricotta-pea-mint-pesto-recipe][recipe:best-arugula-salad-peas-pine-nuts-ricotta-salata-recipe]