A Sunday Indulgence

I love cheese. I could do without milk all together but never without cheese. I respect cheese. This is a food to be eaten with care, savoring each texture and flavor. The sweetness of goat cheese, the nuttiness of brie, the sharp creaminess of parmesan, the earthiness of a blue cheese etc...I am not a cheese snob. I rarely spend the extra money on a gourmet cheese but I'm also not in the habit of buying Kraft. In the near future I hope to be writing about my experiences making my own cheeses.

This love in inherited. My mom makes a mean cheddar cheese sauce and she knows it. Always with intent to please our taste buds as well as hers, it was a staple with broccoli, chicken, rice and of course macaroni and cheese (which was also crusted with a bread crumb butter mixture [thank you grandma]) Delicious.

Where my love of Alfredo and peas originated I cannot tell you. As far as I can remember I've never enjoyed Alfredo at any restaurant, out of a can (big surprise) or any of my handful of attempts at making it. Still the idea of this beautiful creamy, tangy, salty sauce with sweet peas was tantalizing. Now I had fresh sweet peas at my fingertips. There is no way I could resist giving it a shot.


1 lb of unshelled peas or 1 cup of frozen peas
2 large cloves of fresh garlic
1/4 cup of unsalted butter
1 cup of heavy cream
1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

In a medium sized sauce pan, melt the 1/4 cup of butter
crush your garlic right into the melted butter and let it turn a light golden brown (not too crusty).
*** A note about garlic*** If you haven't tried really fresh garlic (I just did recently) It is worth the trip to whatever farm stand or market you have to go to get it. It is unbelievably sweet with no bitterness that grocery store garlic often has. ~ Garlic's #1 Fan
Add the heavy cream and allow to heat. Keep the liquid moving in the pot or it will burn. Once the cream is hot add your grated Parmesan cheese. (Make sure it's a decent quality Parmesan cheese. The kind that's mixed with lot of other cheese friends, not the kind you buy off of a shelf. Also, I have at least 3 times before tried to use Romano cheese and it does not melt)
Keep mixing until the sauce is creamy. Now add your peas. I just cooked the peas right in the sauce you can also defrost your frozen peas the same way.
Keep it moving (this is the only bad part about making cream based sauces)

I served this over whole wheat pasta. I would have liked to serve it over carrots, green and yellow squash shredded and steamed but I didn't have any.

There were no leftovers.