Sauteed Peas

I'm not sure about the rest of the world but Arlington is feeling more and more fall by the minute.  Cold nights are perfect for hot dishes.  And while it is usually easy enough to come up with the main course and the starch too often they are accompanied by boring veggies that are just steamed or boiled.  In order to combat boring veggies I started on a mission this week to make more interesting side dishes.

It can be hard enough to get people excited about vegetables some days (and by people I mean my favorite guinea pig, Nick!).  It doesn't help if the veggies are just plain old steamed veggies without much flavor.  So for my first installment of amped up veggies I made sauteed peas, inspired by a recipe I read in Cook's Illustrated a few years ago.  These peas are delicious and pack enough flavor to feel like a main event instead of an after thought :)

Sauteed Peas Recipe

Ingredients

yields 3-4 servings

1 T. olive oil

1 shallot, minced (or 1/4 small yellow onion)

1 glove garlic, minced

3 cups frozen peas, do not thaw

1/4 cup chicken stock

1/2 lemon

1 T. butter

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1) Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat until shiny.  Add shallot (or onion) and garlic and cook until softened, 2-3 minutes.  

2) Add frozen peas and stock and cook 3-4 minutes or until peas are warm and bright green.  

3) Remove from heat, add lemon juice, butter, salt and pepper.  Serve immediately.

**This dish is delicious and super fast to make but doesn't reheat well.  The peas often are mushy when reheated. Since it only takes about 10 minutes to make I recommend making this fresh each time you want it serve it rather than making a large batch and re-heating later.

Looking for more delicious vegetable recipes... check out some of my favorites:

Roasted Beet & Goat Cheese

Layered Cauliflower Salad