Carla's Comfort Foods
Is Carla Hall the most flat-out enjoyable person in the food world right now?
In our book: Yes.
A friend invited Clay to join him to see Carla discuss her new book, Carla's Comfort Foods, here in DC last week. The Top Chef competitor, co-host of The Chew and District of Columbia resident utterly charmed the crowd with her Padma Lakshmi impressions, tales of cooking under pressure and just overall Carla-ness (Hootie hoo!).
But it was the disucssion of peas that grabbed Clay's interest. Peas are one of Carla's favorite foods (ours too, Carla, call us!). She told the crowd that a recipe she'd made on Top Chef, for Buttered Tarragon Peas, was left out of her first cookbook. Since then, it's been the most requested recipe she gets from fans of the show.
With a new book out, it was time for Carla to fix the peas omission.
We love the idea of serving these peas for an Easter brunch or lunch, so we thought we'd give them a spin.
If this is Carla's most requested recipe, we can see why. It's easily a less than 10-minute endeavor, and produces one of the spring-iest, brightest versions of peas we've ever tried.
The simplicity starts with frozen peas (fresh are an option, too, but really, just save yourself the effort and buy frozen). The butter, shallots, tarragon, thyme and lemon zest come together to create a nice glaze for the peas. The dish is bright and flavorful -- overall perfect for Easter.
Make these peas for Easter -- or dinner tonight!
Most importantly, just make them. Carla will love you for it.
You Might Also Like:
Carla Hall's Last Supper Buttered Tarragon Peas
Recipe via Carla's Comfort Foods: Favorite Dishes from Around the World
Buy Carla's Comfort Foods
NOTES FROM ZACH AND CLAY
For what it's worth, we only used 1 tablespoon of butter instead of the suggested 2. It turned out fine.
INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup minced shallots
Kosher salt
2 cups cooked fresh peas or thawed frozen peas
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh tarragon leaves, plus whole leaves for garnish
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
1/4 cup water
METHOD
In a large skillet, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter over medium-low heat. Add the shallots and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring, until the shallots are just translucent, about 1 minute. Add the peas, reduce the heat to low, and cook, stirring, until heated through.
Add the tarragon, thyme, lemon zest, water and remaining 1 tablespoon butter. Cook, stirring, until the peas are glazed, about 5 minutes. Garnish with tarragon leaves and serve immediately.
