Instructions: Pick over and rinse split peas.

Cook in salted simmering water with garlic for about 25 minutes or until just tender. Add fresh peas and cook another 3 minutes.

Drain and let cool.

Put peas in a large bowl and add onion and spinach.

In a small bowl whisk vinegar and oil together and toss with pea mixture.

Add salt and pepper.

Split peas are simply fresh peas that have been dried a process that splits them in half. As soup and pease pudding split peas have been historically consumed in larger quantities than the fresh vegetable partly because their almost eternal life keeps them constantly available. By contrast fresh peas give us in each nuggety bite the ephemeral intensity of summer. Add a scattering of baby spinach leaves and you have a salad that offers the best of both worlds.

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