Eat your peas and carrots

Savory carrots and peas

I took a quick chance of checking in on one of the cold frames in the garden to see how things had fared so far during the unusual ups and downs of our winter weather this year.  To my delight, the carrots were doing just fine.  They were deep orange in color and nicely sweet from exposure to the cold weather.  There was just a little bit of frost damage to the tops of a few that had poked up above the insulation of the dirt, but overall, I harvested a nice haul. I decided to make a simple, but flavorful side dish of carrots and peas to celebrate the natural goodness of this little harvest.  This dish was inspired by a recipe for Carrots Lyonnaise in the cookbook Simple Food for the Good Life by Helen Nearing.  

Carrots harvested from the winter garden

Savory carrots and peas

makes 5-6 side dish servings

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups carrots, cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme (or 1 teaspoon fresh)
1/2 cup water
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tablespoon agave nectar (or honey or maple syrup)
2 cups peas (frozen will work)

1 heaping tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes (or more if you like)

sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped

In a medium sauce pan, heat the olive oil on medium heat.  Add the onion and garlic and saute until the onion is transparent.  Add in the carrots, water, lemon juice, thyme, and agave nectar.  Cover and simmer until the carrots are as tender as you like.  Add the peas and nutritional yeast flakes and stir.  Heat just until the peas are warmed through then remove pan from the heat.  Sprinkle with chopped parsley and season with sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste before serving.

Thanks for reading!

Melting snow at Virginia Beach, VA

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