1. In a large pot, heat the olive oil and butter until melted. Add the onion and carrots, cook until tender. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Add the peas and chicken stock. Cover the pot, and cook over medium heat, about 10 minutes, until the peas are tender but not mushy.

3. Carefully purée the soup in batches in a blender. (Be careful, as it is hot.) Pour the puréed soup back into a second pot.

4. Stir the heavy cream and Parmesan cheese into the puréed soup. Taste and season as necessary. Chop your favorite herb, and sprinkle on top. (Jason really likes thyme or cilantro.) Top with a dab of sour cream, if desired.

Locals like you: Jason Miller

Jason Miller has many passions, but his love to cook ranks above most others. He attributes this love to his grandmother, who taught him from a small, paperback cookbook that her grandmother used to teach her.

Jason was raised in Fort Smith, and graduated from Greenwood High School and Arkansas Tech University. He and his wife, Jennie, moved away for nine years, living in Philadelphia and Chicago, and then moved back to Northwest Arkansas in 2014. They now live in Rogers with their three children, and Jason is the executive director for the Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra.

His attraction to genealogy led to his interest in the legacy of cooking. Once he became the point person for family members to pass along information, he soon realized that family recipes were a fun way to connect with the past. He loved sorting through them, finding that many were handwritten and stained from years of love and use.

Determining that these recipes deserved to be displayed just as family photos would be, Jason created a heritage recipe board, which hangs in his kitchen. It is a collection of favorites from friends and family, ranging from some received in recent history, to those handed down from generations past. Jason shares a favorite spring recipe below.