ROASTED CARROTS WITH OLIVES AND LIME
The Italian Riviera, on a plate ~ to bid adieu to summer.
Hello!
Thank you for all your incredible notes on my last two pieces—it is always especially thrilling to be in dialogue with all of you and get to know who is on the other side of this screen. Please pop in and comment when you can.
Let's lighten things up a little and give summer one parting shot, a glorious blast of sunshine on this rainy (officially fall!) hurricane weekend.
I am forever dreaming about late summer in Capri—or the Amalfi Coast, Puglia, Sicily—or anywhere on the Italia Riviera (if you’re struggling to conjure a feeling, check out
’s spot-on Riviera mood board).This summer, I often joked that the rich went to Italy, and the rest of us went camping. Camping was truly memorable, but I made sure not to scroll photos of anyone’s Italian holiday from my tent.
What I’m good at is imagining myself somewhere by cooking, by bending the light just so, by setting the table with a particular wine or linen. So while this flirty side dish doesn’t exactly hail from any of the aforementioned places—in mood, it’s right there—with that crisp striped napkin, akin to the sun umbrellas that dot the Italian coast (See: this, and this.)
The lure to Italy (Or Portugal, or Greece, or Mallorca) is not only the landscape, or yes, the food (the wine! the olives! the oils!), but also knowing that these spots are ripe for slowing down. That’s what we’re craving when we dream of Sicily or Capri—the anti-rushing culture Europeans have down to a T. We can do that too, if only at the table.
So, as we close out summer, I’m leaving you with this easy shoulder season dish, which will work in the last of the blazing light of September but also with the first crisp carrots and radishes of fall. The meaty brown olives are essentials here (though green will work, too), as are the pistachio and lime. Serve it now—I recommend this with roasted halibut or a savory roast chicken—or save it for company, for date night, and for the hope that the sun will rise and kiss our skin again.
xx
Sarah
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ROASTED CARROTS WITH OLIVES AND LIME
Sometimes, it’s worth it to take our time with a single side dish and make it shine. Carrots with garlic and lemon are just fine—delicious even! But adding in olives, slivered lime and onion, and cilantro or dill (or both) is something to write home about. Don’t forget the toasted pistachios on top.