Muffins - with peas!

Muffins are always an enjoyable snack, whether they are sweet or savoury. When we opened our latest pack of St Hubert 41, a low fat spread we mainly use for tartines, there was a recipe on the inner lid, number two of a series. Muffins with peas, onions and curry looked easy enough, given that there were home-grown "Pea Wee" petits pois in the freezer and all the other ingredients, or a ready substitute, are always in the store cupboard.

Pea Wee, the July harvest

When I translated the recipe, I realised that the weight given for the peas was for peas in the pod. That would restrict the recipe to the summer months, if using fresh peas, unless you have a gourmet vegetable shop to hand and don't give a hang for the food miles! We blogged about picking them here. I just used what I had left, which was a little less. Tim loved the effect, but I reckon 150g or so would be better. The recipe says it serves 4, and nothing about how many muffins it makes! It actually made 12 medium muffins.

The original French recipe.

200g petits pois
3 small white onions
100g St Hubert 41 spread
200g plain flour
1 sachet (2 tsp) baking powder
1 tsp curry powder
40g grated parmesan
3 eggs
70g fromage frais
a pinch of salt (omit if using St Hubert demi-sel)

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Prepare 12 muffin cases or moulds (if you use tins, grease them thoroughly).
Shell the peas. Peel the onions and chop finely. Melt the St Hubert over a gentle heat (30 seconds in the microwave on high and stir).
Sift together the flour, baking powder, curry and salt into a mixing bowl. Stir in the parmesan and fromage frais. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
Add the melted St Hubert and whisk thoroughly. Finally stir in the vegetables.
Share out the mixture into the muffin moulds and bake for 30 minutes.
They are cooked when the point of a knife comes out clean.

Four gone already... foregone conclusion!

If using frozen peas, defrost the peas thoroughly before adding them. I also used ras al hanout North African spice mix instead of curry powder; shallots instead of white onions, freshly grated cantal instead of parmesan; and faiselle (goat's milk curds and whey) instead of fromage frais. I found the cooking time was more like 50 minutes. Definitely a success!

Damn... now we'll have to eat this one as well! Oh dear...