Author Notes
Who wants to spend their days ticking off each serving of vegetable? Frankly, that sounds boring, and like work. Who really needs more work added to their load?
Instead of worrying, my advice is just surround yourself with recipes like this that taste so good, you'll find yourself (and your kids) unknowingly, and uncontrollably, eating all 3 to 5 servings in one sitting.
As for preparing the carrots, no fancy gadgets needed—a handheld vegetable peeler works perfectly, and saves time on the clean up. —Jennifer Perillo
Ingredients
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3
medium carrots (about 3.5 ounces/105 grams), scrubbed clean or outer layer peeled
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few springs of lemon thyme
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1 teaspoon
unsalted butter
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Sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Directions
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Using a vegetable peeler, peel thin lengthwise strands from each carrot, stopping just before the core. Place in a glass microwave-safe bowl, add a few tablespoons of water, cover and cook on HIGH for 3 minutes, or until tender, but still toothsome (see Note).
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Meanwhile, remove the leaves from the lemon thyme, discarding the stems, and roughly chop. Set aside.
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Drain the water from the bowl, toss with butter and lemon thyme. Season with salt and pepper and serve.
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Notes: You can alternately cook the carrot strands in a pot of boiling water until "al dente". Also if lemon thyme is unavailable or not in season, you can swap in regular thyme and add freshly grated lemon zest, or just use whatever favorite fresh herbs you have available to put your own spin on this easy side dish.
Jennifer Perillo is the Consulting Food Editor at Working Mother magazine, and a regular a contributor to Relish Magazine and FoodNetwork.com. She shares stories about food, family and life at her blog In Jennie's Kitchen and in her debut cookbook, Homemade with Love: Simple Scratch Cooking from In Jennie's Kitchen (Running Press 2013).
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