Pea Schnitzel with potato mash and marinated carrots

Collecting fresh pea pods from the field was one of my favourite childhood pastimes in the summer. Now I still think of those times fondly and am always happy to see the new season pods to appear in the shops and markets. Still, the self picked field ones were the juiciest and tastiest ever. This dish is basically built around the idea of summer peas, although my Schnitzel are made from dried pea crush. I served them with potato mash and marinated carrots that were just the perfect side for such a summer feast with thyme flavour running through. I only rarely marinate vegetables, which is a shame, as they are so good and I should be doing more of it.

Here are the instructions how to make the marinated carrots and pea Schnitzel.

Marinated carrots:

3 large carrots

1 garlic clove

1 tbsp maple syrup

1 tbsp olive oil

Sprinkle of salt

Few twigs of fresh thyme

Peel the carrots and cut them into about 6 cm long and 3-4 mm thick slices. Heat some olive oil in a pan and quickly fry the carrots in the pan. Stir them there for a couple of minutes only. Add the finely chopped garlic to the pan, stir and let cool.

Mix the marinade of maple syrup, olive oil, salt and fresh thyme and pour it onto the carrots. Close them into an airtight container and let rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Pea Schnitzel:

1 cup dried pea crush

1 tbsp vegetable stock powder

2 onions

2 garlic cloves

Olive oil

3 wedges of queens squash or other squash

Few twigs of fresh thyme

Salt

Ground black pepper

1 egg

4-6 tbsp breadcrumbs

Vegetable oil for frying

Cook the pea crush in water with the added vegetable stock powder for about 10 minutes. Drain any liquid off and let cool.

Chop the onion and garlic and cook in olive oil until the onions are lightly browned and softened. Add them to the peas once cooled.

Grate the squash wedges and add to the pea mix.

Season with thyme, salt and pepper.

Then also add the egg and breadcrumbs. The mixture should hold together even without the egg, so you could try to veganise the recipe.

Heat vegetable oil in a pan, shape Schnitzel from the mix and fry them on both sides until properly fried and coloured.

Serve with potato mash, fresh peas and the marinated carrots and enjoy!

This is my own Eat Your Greens contribution for this month due to the dried peas in the Schnitzel and the fresh ones in the serving. I'm hosting the event this month and Shaheen is my co-host and we hope to see many green veggie recipes from you, so please share!

Your VegHog