One of the myriad benefits of following the seasons is the thrill and the excitement, we feel when a food we haven’t enjoyed since last year ripens.

Delayed gratification always heightens one’s pleasure, and when everything is available all the time, we have less interest because nothing is special. I would much rather look forward to the time when, say, tomatoes ripen locally than suffer through one grown for long-distance travel.

Following this logic, now is the time to enjoy fresh peas: English peas, sugar snap peas, and snow peas. Their season is, overall, from April through July. With all our microclimates and climate change, the lines between seasons are not as impermeable as they once were, but they still offer the best guide to when foods will be at their peak.

Enjoying foods in their own time brings other pleasures, too. Opening a can or pulling a bag out of a freezer is barely a conscious activity, but sitting outside shelling peas while listening to songbirds is a delightful interlude on any day. Whether you grow the peas yourself or snag them from a local farm stand or farmers market, it is a simple spring ritual, right up there with picking a Santa Rosa plum at its perfect moment of ripeness or pounding basil from your garden into the year’s first pesto.

Rice and pea soup is a classic Italian spring dish. In my version, I add spearmint and Meyer lemon, both of which accent it beautifully.

8 ounces (1 ¼ cups) Italian rice, preferably Vialone Nano or Carnaroli

1 ½ cups freshly shelled English peas (about 1-1 ½ pounds unshelled peas)

3 cups homemade chicken broth or mild vegetable broth

White pepper in a mill

½ cup fresh spearmint leaves, very thinly sliced

3 ounces (¾ cup) Estero Gold or Dry Jack, grated

Put the rice in a medium saucepan, add about 2 teaspoons of salt and enough water to cover the rice by about 3 inches. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat, simmer gently for 12 to 15 minutes, until the rice is almost tender, and remove from the heat. Tip the rice into a strainer, drain off the cooking liquid and return the rice to the saucepan.

While the rice cooks, melt the butter in a medium saute pan, add the shallot and cook over medium-low heat until it is limp and fragrant, about 7 minutes. Add the peas and saute, stirring frequently, until the peas are just beginning to soften, about 3 minutes.

Add the cooked peas and shallots to the saucepan with the rice and pour in the chicken broth. Simmer gently until the peas are as tender as you’d like, from 4 to 7 minutes.

Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese.

Taste, correct for salt as needed, and season with a few turns of white pepper. Set aside a little mint and stir the rest into the soup. Let rest, covered, for about 10 minutes.

Ladle the soup into soup plates and top each portion with a bit of the reserved mint and some of the lemon zest. Enjoy right away with lemon wedges alongside.

This salad is best with peas that have just been picked and shelled. If they were harvested more than a few hours previously, be sure to taste them. If they are starchy, you’ll need to blanch them. I originally made this salad using duck cracklings, and I’ve made it using chicken cracklings, too. Feel free to use one or the other instead of the pancetta.

Warm Shallot Vinaigrette (recipe follows)

¾ cup fresh English peas (from about 1 pound in their pods)

1 large head frisee, cored and trimmed

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Black pepper in a mill

1 8-ounce round of brie, medium ripe, thinly sliced

First, make the vinaigrette and set it aside.

Put the pancetta into a small saute pan set over medium heat and cook until it is almost but not quite crisp. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Taste the peas; if they are tender and sweet, simply set them aside to use raw. If they are the least bit starchy, blanch them in boiling salted water for 1 minute, drain, refresh in ice water, and drain again. Set them aside.

Put the frisee in a large bowl, sprinkle with salt, and toss gently. Drizzle the olive oil over it and toss again. Add several turns of black pepper.

Divide the greens among individual plates and drape cheese on top. Scatter pancetta and peas over each serving, spoon vinaigrette on top, add a few baguette slices to each portion, and enjoy right away.

1 tablespoon champagne or white wine vinegar

2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice, plus more to taste

Put the olive oil into a small saute pan set over medium low heat, add the shallot and cook gently until it is soft and fragrant, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute more.

Add the vinegar and lemon juice, season with salt, pour in the olive oil, heat through, and remove from the stove. Add the chives and set aside.

Taste and correct for salt and acid. balance before using.

You can enjoy these snow peas as a side dish or as a main course. For a main course, serve over burrata, rice noodles, steamed rice or a short pasta such as gemelli.

Pinch red pepper flakes, optional

Kosher salt or soy sauce

Set a wok over medium high heat, add the sesame seeds, and toast until they are fragrant and lightly browned. Transfer to a small container and return the wok to the heat.

Add the coconut oil and, when it is melted, add the snow peas. Cook, tossing gently, until the peas begin to soften and lose their raw texture, about 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the garlic and the red pepper flakes, if using, toss, season with salt or soy sauce and remove from the heat.

Drizzle the sesame oil over the snow peas. Divide among individual plates or bowls, top with sesame seeds, and enjoy.

Vegetarians can enjoy this salad by making one simple change: Replace the shrimp with lightly toasted pistachios or cashews.

12 ounces seme di melone, orzo, rosamarina or other seed-shaped pasta

2 tablespoons unseasoned rice wine vinegar, plus more to taste

Black pepper in a mill

8 ounces Oregon bay shrimp, drained

1 cup fresh English peas, from about 1 pound unshelled

1 tablespoon fresh spearmint leaves, very thinly sliced

In a small bowl, combine the ½ cup hot water and the raisins; set aside.

In a second small bowl, combine the remaining hot water and saffron threads. Set aside.

Cook the pasta in boiling salted water until just done, drain, rinse, drain thoroughly, and put into a medium bowl.

While the pasta cooks, put the olive oil into a small bowl. Add the sesame oil, vinegar, lime, pinch of sugar, pinch of salt, the saffron and soaking water, and several turns of black pepper. Taste and correct for acid, salt, and sugar balance.

Pour the dressing over the pasta.

Drain the raisins and add to the pasta, along with the shrimp, peas, cilantro, and spearmint.

Toss gently but thoroughly. Taste and adjust as needed for salt, sugar, acid, and pepper.

Michele Anna Jordan is the author of 24 books to date, including “The New Cook’s Tour of Sonoma.” Email her at michele@micheleannajordan.com.

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