I got this quick, easy, incredibly flavorful and healthy recipe from the Love Farm Organics site one day when I was searching the web for a local organic farm that delivered weekly produce boxes. Well they are local if you happen to live in Portland, Oregon, but from the Seattle area, Forest Grove, Oregon (40 miles west of Portland) isn’t exactly “local”. Too bad, I would love to support these farmers. And I would love to have their produce delivered to my home once a week. But alas, great customer service only goes so far – and delivering to my home would certainly qualify as “going too far”. But if you are lucky enough to live near Forest Grove or in the metropolitan Portland area, I would advise you to check out Love Farm Organics. If their produce is as good as their recipes, you are in for a treat.

• ½ lb. sugar snap peas*, calyx cut off and strings removed, if necessary
• 2-3 tsp. olive oil
• 1 T. thinly sliced shallots, rings separated
• 1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme
• kosher salt

Place sugar snap peas on a medium sized baking sheet. Pour about 2 teaspoons of olive oil over the peas and mix well until every pod is well coated. (Only use more oil if the pods still seem dry or are not evenly coated.) Spread pods in a single layer on the pan. Sprinkle with shallot slices, thyme, and a moderate amount of kosher salt.  (It’s easy to over salt this recipe, so go easy.) Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in a pre-heated 425 degree oven until crisp tender. Serve hot or at room temperature.

*Sugar snap peas are a cross between green peas and snow peas. The pods appear quite fat, like they’re ready to burst with large peas, but inside, they’re mostly air, and the kernels are miniscule. Like snow peas, you eat the entire pod. Cut off the calyx (end attached to the stalk), and remove the fibrous strings running down the center.  (Note: some varieties are string-less.) You may also see these peas labeled simply as “snap peas” or “sugar peas.”