As soon as pea shoots make their first appearance at the markets each spring, I can’t resist buying a big bag and then subsequently stocking up on the rest of the ingredients for a salad I learned from Ryan Skeen when he was at a great Belgian poutine joint in Gramercy called Resto. A few years ago for the New York Times, I wrote about lamb belly as a hot new ingredient, and printed a recipe for the version Ryan was serving at Resto: a spring lamb belly salad with pea shoots, sugar snaps, Meyer lemon vinaigrette and a preserved lemon cream. It was one of those rare recipes that I truly fell in love with as I tested it for the piece, and it’s since worked its way into my regular rotation. Now, I either make the salad on its own, or as a vibrant bed for grilled lamb or goat chops. It would be great with salmon as well. The salad is simple but sexy, a tangle of grassy pea shoots and greens dotted with crunchy sweet sugar snaps, all tossed in a simple lemon dressing. The real payoff is slightly hidden: a fragrant dice of preserved lemon is gently folded into a creamy smear of goat cheese and crème fraiche (surprise!) buried beneath the greens.

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