Oh, sweet little green peas.

The image alone is enough to make me want honey baked hams, Easter eggs, and picking flowers in the fresh green spring grasses. Green peas are at their peak in March, April, and May, making a shining appearance in big bowls, most classically creamed with pearled onions, or in the all time favorite consisting of petite diced carrots, their vibrant orange playing right along with the fresh green peas. Once seen as a symbol of money and love, the little pea is worth more than its weight. Though tiny in size, they make up for it completely in taste. Inside crunchy and plump peas, their natural sugars are at their peak when first picked.

Members of legume family, peas are the delicate and attractive niece to bigger uncles like kidney beans, plump creamy aunts like Great Northerns, and those wayward cousins like peanuts. All legumes, but not quite as lovely as the pea. The common green pea is actually an English pea, which are best eaten fresh from the pod and just picked from a garden. The other green pea is the petits pois from the French. Lucky for us, these sweet peas of spring freeze incredibly well, retaining their glory, color, and pop of taste for dishes all year long. Or even in spring when you're not able to get to farmer's market, or your farmers are busy with spring onions not peas. I use the frozen ones all the time. It can be our little green pea secret…along with that fact they do come back in August to October…a fact I would like to mention but not highlight. Peas mean spring.

Spring is also a time to clean out and clean up. Peas are healthy little bites with vitamins such as A and C. Their color means antioxidants, and though a starchy vegetable, they do count in that 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables we all should be getting every day. Though some may sneer their noises with the slight mention of peas, I must use the cliqued "Give Peas a Chance." With the flavor being sweeter than most hearty vegetables that can be bitter and pungent, peas may just be the saving grace for those hard to win-over vegetable haters, especially children. They are the prefect size for picking up and popping into the mouth for the young, and the playful old.

Fresh peas are lovely with salads, lightly dressed with a simple lemon vinaigrette and blobs of ricotta cheese. Peas can be stirred into soups, tossed into tomato braises and tangines for a bit of color, and even just warmed and toasted with butter and bits of onions. Peas can also hold their own in creamy white sauces, their sweetness balancing with the heavier fat tones like the classic creamed peas. This is a simple as boiling down cream until thickened, adding to diced onions sautéed in a little butter and the peas.

Lush Peas with Fontina

This could serve as a main dish with grilled chicken or shrimp stirred in. For vegetarians, sprinkle with parmesan and serve over rice.

<> Melt 1 tablespoon unsalted butter in a deep sided skillet over medium heat, adding diced shallot. Cook until softened.

<> Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon all purpose flour (making a light roux.) Stirring as to not burn it and just blend the flour in. Stir in ½ cup milk or half and half, cooking until thickened slightly.

<> Stir in ½ to ¾ cup shredded Fontina cheese, and add 2 cups frozen peas, thawed (or fresh!)

<> Heat through, thinning sauce with milk if need be. Salt to taste.

*You could also stir in chopped chives to finish, or sprinkle over top.