I feel like you, dear readers, are probably my most enthusiastic peer group for food-related hyperfixations, so I can confess mine to you right now without fear of being judged: I am currently obsessed with eating blistered peas in the pod. Like, a lot of blistered peas. Every few nights, I make a big pile for myself, add nothing but a generous squeeze of lemon and flaky salt, and eat them with my fingers right off the cutting board, like an absolute animal. My husband and kid don’t seem to care for them so much, so I get the whole pile to myself, which, frankly, suits me just fine.

I know it’s just lightly charred peas. But you’re getting the sugars caramelized just a little, and the peas inside get steamed and sweet and bright and juicy, and the whole thing just goes down so easy. It’s a very low effort, high reward side and snack for these warm evenings, and I hope you’ll make a giant pile for yourself too.

A few notes:

• Peas: These are fresh, English peas in the pod, not snap peas or snow peas (which have a flatter, more edible pod; English peas have a pod you discard after eating). My grocery store has them right now, and in fact, has them pretty reliably through early summer, but your farmer’s market should definitely have them if you don’t see them.
• Pan: You can use any wide skillet. I use a cast iron one because it creates the most char and heat retention and thus gets the peas blistered the fastest. But any skillet will do, just make sure not to overcrowd it.
• Seasoning: Lemon and flaky salt is all you need. If you don’t have flaky salt, fine sea salt is okay too. A little black pepper wouldn’t hurt either. If you wanted to do something wild, like add some red pepper flakes for heat or a tiny bit of mint or a pat of butter, I wouldn’t tell anyone. (But lemon and salt is truly all I use.)