French · Authentic-ish French
Petits Pois a la Francaise
197 kcal a serving, against 274 for the traditional version. That is 77 kcal off, or 28%, with 14.3g of protein. Serves 4. 15 minutes.
What the traditional version is
A massive pile of peas, slowly braised with a whole head of lettuce, loads of spring onions and thick, fatty lardons. A huge block of butter is stirred in at the end to create a rich, emulsified sauce. The whole thing sits in a pool of salty, fatty chicken stock. It's cooked for a surprisingly long time until the peas are entirely soft and the lettuce has completely collapsed into the buttery liquid.
What changed, and what each change costs
150g of lardons down to 100g of lean cooked ham
Lardons throw off a massive pool of pork fat into the broth, which mixes with the butter to create a dense, heavy sauce. Lean ham gives you the necessary salty, meaty bite without turning the cooking liquor into a greasy oil slick.
What it costs you. You lose the crispy, rendered fat edges that only proper pork belly can give you.
50g of butter down to 15g
The traditional dish relies on a giant chunk of butter to thicken the sauce and coat the vegetables. I use a tiny bit right at the end just to glaze the peas, letting the reduced chicken stock do the heavy lifting for the flavour.
What it costs you. The broth is significantly thinner. It sits at the bottom of the plate rather than clinging to every single pea like a double cream. You'll need a spoon to drink it.
The numbers
| Per serving | Traditional | Lightened |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 274 | 197 |
| Protein | 16.2g | 14.3g |
| Fat | 14g | 5.8g |
| Saturated fat | 7.5g | 2.6g |
| Carbohydrate | 22.6g | 22.9g |
| Protein per 100 kcal | 5.9g | 7.2g |
Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish French prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked.
Allergens. milk, celery.
The method is in the book
What you've got is a bright and savoury plate of spring vegetables. A rich, heavy stew is a different dish and you know where to find it. The lean ham provides exactly the right amount of salt to balance the sweet peas, and the chicken stock keeps everything moist and deeply flavoured. You absolutely miss the thick, buttery sauce of the original, but you gain a side dish you can actually eat a massive bowl of without feeling completely ruined. I serve this with roast chicken or plain white fish, and it brings a brilliant hit of colour and salt to the table.
The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish French, along with 54 more. Buy the paperback