Hi everyone! I’ve been traveling quite a bit this month (okay, traveling A LOT) and I have so much to tell you about, including a offshore fishing trip with Hank Shaw, meeting wonderful bloggers at BlogHer Food and introducing you to 2 brand new members of the Steamy Kitchen team! I’m finally back home on Saturday and hopefully will be able to catch up on my blogging duties 😉 In the meantime, I’ve asked Susie of Return to Sunday Supper to fill in for me here today. Lots of love, Jaden
A couple of months ago, we hosted an all-day blogging seminar called Food Blog Forum in Orlando where I met some fantastic food bloggers, some of whom flew all the way from other states (and one from Canada!) to attend. Husband and wife team Jeff and Susie Kauck came all the way from Chicago to hear us talk and we just hit it off immediately. Jeff is an James Beard nomincated food photographer, having shot an array of top notch cookbooks. Susie is the author of Return to Sunday Supper food blog featuring recipes that I know your family will love. Their daughter, Dana, just started contributing to the blog too – once a week she highlights the nutritional information of an ingredient that’s used in one of the recipes. Please welcome Susie and her clean, light and refreshing Carrot, Pea and Mint Salad. ~Jaden
I’m Susie Kauck, and I started my blog, Return to Sunday Supper, because I want to emphasize the need for a significant, celebrated, face-to-face meal shared by family and friends at least once a week. What better way to add value to our lives than to join together around a weekly meal that brings family and friends closer?
I think of this gathering as an antidote to “life as usual” – hectic schedules, physical and emotional distance between us, reliance on fast food and addiction to TV and computer screens. What better way to add value to our lives than to join and inspire others around a weekly meal that brings family and friends closer?
Return to Sunday Supper also presents nutritional information for some of the foods featured and documented reasons why it is so important for families to eat together.
My blog features family favorite classics and updated recipes each tied to a personal story. I invite you to share your Sunday supper stories and recipes so that together we can motivate others to start their own Sunday supper traditions. If you would like to participate, please contact me, susie@returntosundaysupper.com.
This week I have been thinking about the simple pleasures of the bounty of spring and that inspired this lovely salad. It’s simple, beautiful, and easy to prepare.
I think that I love carrots because I can vividly remember the charming illustrations of carrots in the Beatrix Potter stories from when I was a child. My favorite way to eat them them then and now was raw….just like Peter! Of course, if you eat them uncooked they retain all of their wonderful nutrients…just one more reason to love this salad.
Fresh Carrot, Pea and Mint Salad Recipe
Ingredients
For the salad:
- 4 large carrots, washed, trimmed and peeled (about 1 pound)
- 1/2 cup of fresh (shelled) or frozen peas (defrosted)
- 1 tablespoon fresh mint, torn or cut with scissors into small pieces
- pea shoots for garnish, if you like
For the Vinaigrette:
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (or grape seed oil for a lighter taste)
- 1 lemon
- 3 sprigs mint
- 1 teaspoon honey (optional) if you like sweeter vinaigrette
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- For this salad you can use a mandoline slicer or a grater (manual or food processor). Slice carrots lengthwise using a mandoline slicer or grate them. Keep sliced carrots in a bowl of ice water and drain them before assembling salad. Blanch fresh peas in boiling water for 2 minutes. Drain and immediately immerse peas in ice water for two minutes to stop the cooking process, then drain. If using frozen peas, you can just defrost them. Arrange carrots on individual salad plates. Top with peas. Right before serving, sprinkle with chopped mint.
- For the Vinaigrette: Crush 3 sprigs of mint and add to the olive or grape seed oil. Leave the mint in the oil for 10 minutes then remove the mint. You will now have mint infused oil. Zest the lemon first, then squeeze to render 1 teaspoon zest and 2 tablespoons juice. In bowl whisk together oil, lemon juice, zest, honey (optional), salt and pepper. Drizzle dressing over salad, garnish with pea shoots if you like, and serve immediately.
Did you try this recipe? Please leave a star rating in the recipe card below and leave a review in the comment section! I always appreciate your feedback and I know other readers do, too!
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Thank You Jaden! Fresh Basil never occurred to me. Sounds great! And fortunately, tis the season here…finally!!!
Fresh thyme would be amazing with the pea/carrot combo.
beautiful! always looking for ways to use up the leftover carrots!
I found this recipe on Thursday and made it Friday night for a last minute family dinner! My aunts couldn’t stop raving about it. What I loved the most is that it uses ingredients I already have in the kitchen and it’s so easy to throw together.
Yum! How perfect for a hot summer’s day!
Yum, this looks fantastic! I’m usually at a loss when it comes to preparing unique salads, always stuck in the boring lettuce-based mold. I love the three main ingredients, but never thought about combining them together as a salad. Photography is stunning as well.
The photograph is quite breathtaking. The colors almost make it look like it is not real food. This is a wonderful approach to peas and carrots. I never would have though of mint as complementary to peas and carrots… Thanks!
That is a beautiful photo! I need to put together more simple salads like this one. Your traveling sounds so wonderful to me! I would love to do more of it.
Thanks for this beautiful Salad! Any suggestions as an option to the mint? I cannot have mint right now due to homeopathic medicine I am taking…Seems like parsley may be too boring…
How about fresh basil?
Mmmm so tasty looking! Love this!
What a gorgeous salad! It looks so light and refreshing! The photos are absolutely stunning! 🙂
Wooo…The salad look so beautiful and delicious. And the best part is it seem easy to make. But recently the contaminated vegetables spread across Europe has make people worrying eating vegetables raw 🙁
Jaden, Thank you so very much for giving me this opportunity to share not only this recipe with your readers, but also the message that we need to celebrate Sunday supper as a weekly ritual that feeds us both physically and emotionally.