Snap Peas for Summer: A Recipe

I adapted this recipe from Jack Bishop's Vegetables Every Day. I'm pretty sure my version isn't as good, but I hadn't gone to the grocery store yet and certainly didn't have any plans to go any time soon. I'll post his original recipe, and make note of my alterations. 

His Title: Sugar Snap Peas with Pancetta and Onion (My Title: Snap Peas and Turkey Bacon), serves 4 as a side dish.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound sugar snap peas, stems and strings removed (I used about a third of a pound from a local veggie stand...I removed the stems, but wasn't about to string anything, so I just snapped them into the size I remember my grandmother did before she canned them)
  
• Salt
• 2 tablespoons EVOO
• 2 ounces thin-sliced pancetta, minced (I used turkey bacon, because it's healthier, and I can correctly pronounce it)
• 1 medium onion, minced (I left this out because I didn't have an onion on hand, and even if I had, getting Dustin to eat snap peas was going to be a difficult enough challenge already...)
• 1 tbs minced fresh parsley leaves (I used about a teaspoon and a half of the dried)
• freshly ground black pepper

1. Bring 2 qts water to a boil in a large saucepan. Meanwhile, prepare a bowl of ice water. Add the peas and salt to taste to the boiling water and cook until crisp-tender, about 1.5 minutes. Drain and plunge the peas into the bowl of ice water. When cool, drain the peas and set aside (call me ridiculous, but this seemed like a lot of water to use and then pour out, so I retained all the excess water/ice and watered by non-blooming petunias. Georgia's suffering a drought, y'all). 
2. Heat the oil (I used too much, as you can see in the picture), pancetta, and onion in a large skillet. Saute until the pancetta is crisp and the onion is golden, about 6 minutes (I bet a tsp or so of minced garlic would be good, too). Stir in the peas and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes. Stir in the parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately. 

If you're not familiar with snap peas, they should be crisp, but the seeds shouldn't be swollen out of the pod. They're best super fresh, because the longer they sit in the crisper, the more starchy and bland they become. This is a really fresh tasting dish that I paired with lemon chicken and wild rice.