Side Dish
4106 recipes found
Crushed Sour Cream Potatoes
These extremely rich, highly textured potatoes are no less luxurious than the silky mashed variety, but they are a lot less work. There’s no ricing, mashing or whipping — just a simple crush to expose the potatoes’ craggy interior. From here on out, the key word is “cream”: Creamy potatoes meld with the garlicky heavy cream mixture and lots of sour cream. Small (and yes, creamy) potatoes on the waxy side, like a new potato or even a fingerling, work best here, but a more floury potato cut into large chunks would also work in a pinch. Don’t skimp on the black pepper or chives. They truly make this dish.
Lemon Mousse for a Crowd
Sinatra's Spinach
Sinatra loved this dish because it isn't fattening and he believed the olive oil was good for his voice.
Christina Tosi's Pickled Strawberry Jam
Long-Cooked Broccoli
If you’re used to quick-cooked broccoli, barely blanched in boiling water, or crisp, raw florets, this old Alice Waters recipe from “Chez Panisse Vegetables” (HarperCollins, 1996) might seem a little off. A whole hour of simmering with the lid on? Yes! The result is an incredibly sweet, tender, juicy and delicious vegetable with almost no hands-on work. Finish the dish with plenty of cheese and lemon zest, and an extra drizzle of olive oil, and eat it just the way it is, or break it up into some hot, just-cooked pasta for a bigger meal.
Cranberry Sauce Salsa
Don't toss that little bit of cranberry sauce leftover from Thanksgiving dinner. This recipe, which we developed for a special kids' edition of The New York Times, calls for making it into a savory-sweet salsa that everyone will love. Just add some chopped fresh tomatoes, onion, garlic, cilantro and jalapeño to prepared whole cranberry sauce (not the jellied stuff). Stir in some lime zest and juice, and a sprinkling of chile powder, cumin and cayenne. Serve with enchilada pie or tortilla chips, and consider stocking canned cranberry sauce in your cabinet all year long.
Small-Batch Buttermilk Biscuits
Here’s a recipe for when you want towering, fluffy biscuits, but don’t want a large batch. You can use pretty much any ovenproof dish — a baking sheet, a square or round cake pan, or even a skillet — but be sure to butter the pan beforehand. If you like things a little less seasoned, reduce the salt to 1/2 teaspoon, and if you use salted butter in the dough, reduce the salt to 1/4 teaspoon. Fun tip: Bake these beauties in the toaster oven by following the same temperature and timing guidance as you would when baking in a standard oven. Serve them warm.
Rich and Buttery Corn Muffins
Made with plenty of melted butter and sour cream, these golden, lightly sweet corn muffins are moist, rich and delicately crumbly. If you can find coarsely ground cornmeal (as opposed the fine stuff that’s on most supermarket shelves), you’ll also get deep corn flavor and a pleasantly grainy texture. Serve these warm from the oven, slathered with even more butter, or halved and toasted under the broiler to crisp the surface. They’ll even keep for a few days if you store them in the fridge, and freeze perfectly for up to a month.
Potato Kugel
Make this ahead — the flavor really comes out after it has been reheated.
Memphis Dry-Rub Mushrooms
This showstopper — using a dry rub adapted from Greg Collier, the chef and co-owner of Leah & Louise in Charlotte, N.C. — is an opportunity to explore different mushroom varieties. Black oyster mushrooms give a brawny bite, and effortlessly hold the soulful seasoning while getting the crispest, crunchiest edges. Fuzzy white lion’s mane or even portobellos work, too; just buy the biggest mushrooms you can find. This recipe uses Worcestershire sauce, which typically includes anchovies, so be sure to seek out vegan Worcestershire if you'd like to make the dish vegan. Serve with sweet potato pikliz.
Risotto With Smoked Mozzarella and Escarole
Craig Claiborne and Pierre Franey brought this recipe to The Times in 1988, when a properly-made risotto was still a relatively new dish for the home cook. It would make a wonderful meatless main dish or as an accompaniment to roast chicken or grilled steak.
Green Beans and Greens With Fried Shallots
These delightfully al dente green beans are a quick-cooking nod to the green bean casserole. There is no cream of mushroom soup, but there are fried shallots. Torn leafy greens, briefly sautéed with a bit of butter and a few melted anchovies (which can be omitted for vegetarians), are added to the beans to wilt at the last minute for a very green-on-green side. Depending on what else you’re serving, this could almost count as a salad. Be sure to finish with plenty of acid and flaky salt.
Grilled Carrots With Yogurt, Carrot-Top Oil and Dukkah
You can serve these carrots with Greek yogurt, or with homemade labneh, if you start the night before (see Tip below). This recipe calls for making your own dukkah: You’ll have more than you need, but keep any leftovers in a sealed container to sprinkle over salads, grilled meat or fish. A bunch of carrots from your farmers’ market will work best here, but you can also use regular carrots that have been halved or quartered lengthwise. If you can’t find bunches of carrots with their fresh tops, you can prepare the oil using parsley instead, or double the tarragon for an even more herbaceous version.
Pierre Franey’s Coleslaw
Pierre Franey, that consummate reinterpreter of American cooking, provided this recipe for a Dijon-and-honey spiked coleslaw to The Times in a “60 Minute Gourmet” column in 1990. (It takes much less time to prepare than that.) The result pairs beautifully with any fried seafood and many grilled meats, particularly those scented with soy or curry. It will improve in flavor over the course of a few hours, so it is a good recipe to make in the heat of a weekend day, ahead of an evening barbecue.
Green Salad With Dill Vinaigrette
Making a giant green salad for yourself and your loved ones can be one of the best ways to create a formal break between work and dinner. This simple recipe features two different lettuces (romaine for sweet crunch and arugula for bitter spice) and a fat shower of herbs (parsley for freshness and dill for piquancy). Chilling your chopped and washed leaves in the refrigerator before dressing them is one of the best ways to get a restaurant-style green salad full of big, juicy crunch. For a savory, unknowable quality, add a splash of fish sauce, Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce — choose your own adventure.
Jingalov Hats
This recipe for jingalov hats, the simple flatbread stuffed with a mix of greens, comes from “Lavash,” an Armenian cookbook by John Lee, Ara Zada and Kate Leahy. The authors got the recipe in Artsakh from Lilia Harutyunyan, a local baker who mixes tangy wild sorrel and dandelion greens with soft herbs such as chervil and cilantro, as well as earthy beet greens, chard and spinach. The key to a great bread is in the mix of greens, which gently steam inside the bread as it cooks on the stovetop. Wash and dry all the greens in a salad spinner to remove as much moisture as possible before chopping. The pomegranate seeds are optional, though Ms. Harutyunyan likes to add them for extra tang.
Apples With Honey and Crushed Walnuts
Tradition is a beautiful thing, unless it requires you to make something you don’t enjoy making or eating. For me, that’s charoset. Classically, it’s an apple-walnut mixture (occasionally including a touch of cinnamon or dried fruit, or a combination) that ranges from chunky-relish to chunky-paste, and it’s never been my favorite thing on the table. I’ve always wanted it tangier, crunchier and, well, I wanted a salad. This is that salad. It’s meant to be more acidic than sweet, but adjust with vinegar and honey as needed to suit your preference. A note: Nearly everyone who ate this salad said it was their favorite part of the whole meal, which bruised my matzo ball ego, but I thought you should know.
David Eyre’s Pancake
Writing in The Times in 1966, Craig Claiborne described making the acquaintance of this oven-baked pancake as if he had met Grace Kelly: “It was discovered some weeks ago at an informal Sunday brunch in the handsome, Japanese-style Honolulu home of the David Eyre. With Diamond Head in the distance, a brilliant, palm-ringed sea below and this delicately flavored pancake before us, we seemed to have achieved paradise.” (Life was good if you were a food writer in the 1960s.) Nearly 50 years later, readers are still making the dish, and swooning like Claiborne.
Sauerkraut and Apples
In the Chesapeake, seafood often finds its way onto the Thanksgiving menu. But in Baltimore, which has a strong eastern European and German immigrant history, the holiday table demands something else. “The absence of sauerkraut when turkey is present, Thanksgiving included, is unthinkable, comparable to potatoes without gravy or crisp French fries without ketchup,” wrote John Shields, the chef and owner of Gertrude’s restaurant in Baltimore, in his cookbook “Chesapeake Bay Cooking.” (Sauerkraut is a mainstay well beyond Thanksgiving; Gertrude’s hosts an annual Krautfest in January.) Traditionally, homemakers fermented the cabbage in earthenware crocks in their cellars, but these days the fresh stuff is available to buy. On Thanksgiving, it’s often simply served as a side, or incorporated into dishes like this, in which the sauerkraut is braised in beer with bacon and apples.
Loubia (White Bean and Tomato Stew)
This simple, yet hearty, vegetarian Moroccan stew is just as nourishing as it is comforting. White beans, onions and tomatoes simmer with paprika, ginger and turmeric, infusing the buttery white beans with sweet and earthy flavors. The optional parsley-vinegar oil adds a tangy kick that beautifully complements the fragrant beans. Typically, this stew is enjoyed on its own with plenty of bread and olive oil, but you could also serve it as a hearty breakfast with fried eggs and toast, or for lunch or dinner alongside grilled meat or roast chicken. It’s the kind of meal that you can make on a Sunday that will keep you full and satisfied all week long.
Alfredo Sauce
Alfredo di Lelio, a Roman restaurateur, created this rich, silky sauce, which is meant to be tossed with fettuccine, but it can also be used in many other ways: Drizzle it over seared chicken breasts, simmered beans or roasted vegetables, or toss it with any number of ingredients. Classically made with heavy cream, butter and Parmesan, it is an easy sauce that can be whipped up in minutes using staples from the fridge. As a buttery, blank canvas, it also lends itself to a number of seasonings: Add some fresh tarragon, dried herbs or a pinch of turmeric or saffron, and it takes on a whole new personality.
Roasted Cauliflower With Sweet Chermoula and Yogurt
Chermoula is a common Moroccan marinade traditionally used to season dishes such as roasted vegetables and fish. This is a sweeter version of the sauce with extra lemon juice and honey to bring out the nuances of the herbs and spices. Serve this dish as a main with flatbread or as a side with roasted chicken or a grilled steak. Make a large batch of the sweet chermoula and keep it in the fridge for up to 3 days. You can use it to season roasted vegetables, cooked proteins and drizzle over salads or grain bowls.
Hoppin' John
In her cookbook, “Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking,” Toni Tipton-Martin writes about the Carolina lowcountry tradition of the dish Hoppin’ John, as recorded in the “Penn School & Sea Islands Heritage Cookbook.” The dish was described as brown field peas cooked with rice to be eaten for good luck throughout the year. In African American communities, the tradition of eating rice and cowpeas dates to a celebration on Dec. 31, 1862, Freedom’s Eve. On that day, enslaved Africans congregated in churches in the south, eager to hear the news that the Emancipation Proclamation had set them free. The tradition of eating peas and rice for the new year is now deeply held across cultures throughout the United States and ties to centuries-old folklore that might just lead to better health, prosperity and maybe, just maybe, a bit more luck.
Spicy Chickpeas With Ginger
This recipe, adapted from Deborah Madison's "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone," takes dried chickpeas, soaked overnight, and pairs them with a sauce built on the robust, aromatic flavors of grated ginger, ground coriander, cumin and cardamom. It's an easy, Middle Eastern-tinged weeknight meal. As the chickpeas cook, prepare the sauce, and top with diced tomato, onion, jalapeño for added bite.