Side Dish
4106 recipes found
Alcapurrias de Jueyes (Crab-Stuffed Fritters)
Puerto Rico is famous for its fritters, and alcapurrias are among the most coveted. Imagine a tamale made of green banana and root vegetable masa that is stuffed with savory meat or seafood, and then deep fried. You typically get them from the kioskos, roadside stands along Puerto Rico’s beaches and highways, particularly in Loíza, a town on the northeastern coast that is the island’s African heart. At home, they’re often made over the holidays, as many hands make light work. The flavor is unmistakable: earthy green banana and taro cut by savory sofrito, briny capers and delicate crab meat. The filling, often called a salmorejo, is usually made from local land crabs, but commercially available lump crab is a fitting substitute. This recipe is adapted from one by María Dolores “Lula” de Jesús, the 84-year-old owner of El Burén de Lula in Loíza, who is considered by many to be a madrina, or godmother, of this and other dishes with African origins.
Sautéed Broccoli With Garlic and Chile
This speedy, two-step recipe yields broccoli — or practically any vegetable — that is perfectly browned and cooked all the way through. After florets and thinly sliced stems are seared, add a little water and cover so the broccoli steams in its own juices until fork-tender. Not only does this bring out the vegetable’s inherent sweetness, but it softens whatever flavorings you add without burning them. This recipe embraces the prickly heat of chile and garlic, but you could also use ground spices, thyme or rosemary, ginger or scallions, capers or olives. Swap the broccoli for sliced carrots or sweet potatoes, cauliflower florets, broccoli rabe, or green beans, adjusting cook time and water as necessary.
Yuca con Mojo
Yuca is among the most commonly eaten viandas — the local word for starchy fruits and vegetables, such as plantain and taro — in Puerto Rico. It is the root of the cassava, an extraordinarily resilient plant that was the principal food of the Indigenous Taínos of the island. Among its many preparations, this is my favorite: boiled yuca doused in a garlicky citrus mojo dressing, my grandmother’s recipe. She never wrote it down, but my mother had it deep in her memory, and we cooked it together for this version you see here. The mojo will keep for several weeks in the fridge, and is also delicious on crispy fried tostones, roasted vegetables and fish.
Chopped Salad
A good chopped salad is a buoyant mix of different textures (creamy, crisp, crunchy, juicy), a range of colors, and sweet, salty and tangy flavors. This one has it all, in just the right proportions. You can gather all the ingredients in advance, including cooking the bacon and the eggs. But don’t toss everything together until just before serving — and, preferably, do so at the table for maximum impact.
Mashed Potatoes With Garlic and Basil
Baked Mushrooms and White Beans With Buttery Bread Crumbs
Not really a ragout and not quite a gratin, this hearty meatless casserole has it all: deeply browned mushrooms, creamy white beans, salty feta and crisp bread crumbs. The result is rich, comforting and perfect for a cold night in. Fresh bread crumbs are worth making or seeking out for texture’s sake, but panko will also work nicely. Toss the bread crumbs with melted butter, then briefly broil them for a golden, crunchy topping, a nice contrast to the dish’s silkiness. Paired with a bright salad and a hunk of good bread, this dish works well as a vegetarian main course, or as a companion to sausages and other roasted meats.
Goan Coconut-Milk Pilaf
Radicchio Salad With Anchovy Vinaigrette
Salt is the best way to tame a bitter flavor, and so a radicchio salad benefits from a dressing that tilts toward saltiness. It does not matter which type of radicchio you use — the common tight round head, clusters of white stems with burgundy leaves, or maroon-trimmed endives to name a few — they all deliver some bitterness. The vinaigrette here is bolstered with anchovies and capers.
Spinach and Black Olives
Banana Curry
Lucali Salad
Mark Iacono sometimes serves a version of this salad at Lucali, his candlelit church of pizza in Brooklyn. It’s what he calls a “bottom of the bowl” salad, reminiscent of what’s left after a long Sunday dinner with family, with tomatoes, black olives and red onion deeply marinated in a vinegar-heavy dressing. He layers these above and below cold, crisp lettuce, adds a final drizzle of dressing and serves the salad with a meatball on top of it. But it goes as well plain alongside a pizza or under a sausage that’s been simmered in sauce, with stuffed shells or lasagna or eggplant Parm. You don’t need fancy tomatoes or lettuce with bona fides, just strong vinaigrette and enough time to allow the tomatoes to bleed out in it before you assemble the salad and serve.
Stamped Citrus Shortbread
Use cast-iron cookie stamps to leave imprints on this beautifully textured shortbread, which is flavored with tangy orange and lemon zests. The stamps, which are available online, are a fun way to shape and decorate cookies without much effort. (Don’t be afraid to be generous with the flour, on the cookie balls and on the stamps themselves, shaking off excess so you still get a clean imprint.) But if you don’t have stamps, you can roll and cut the dough using a simply shaped cutter, or roll the dough into a log for slice-and-bake cookies.
Herby Rice Salad With Peas and Prosciutto
This bright, lemony salad laced with fresh herbs is a passport to spring. Simmering the rice in plenty of salted water just until it’s al dente and then cooling it well is key. Blanched fresh peas are terrific if you can find them, but frozen work just fine. The trick is marinating them in lemony olive oil, a technique borrowed from the Michigan chef Abra Berens, who uses it in her comprehensive book “Ruffage: A Practical Guide to Vegetables” (Chronicle Books, 2019). The prosciutto adds a nice salty hit, but you could sub in a dollop of creamy ricotta or leave both out for your vegan friends. Either way, the recipe delivers a bright salad that can stand in for a light meal.
Garlic Tahini Sauce
Many sauces complement roasted cauliflower; this one, from Martha Rose Shulman, is included in her recipe for roasted broccoli. As a matter of inspiration, it comes full circle: Ms. Shulman says she got the idea from one of her favorite Middle Eastern mezes, in which garlic tahini is served with cauliflower — deep-fried this time, rather than roasted.
Rice With Tomatoes and Black Olives
Sweet Potato Confit With Chorizo and Crème Fraîche
Chefs have a way of taking the most humble ingredient and elevating it, which is what Andy Ticer and Michael Hudman of Hog & Hominy in Memphis did with sweet potatoes. The trick is to confit thick slices slow in fat, which transforms the texture into silk. They use pork fat at their restaurants, but home cooks can get a similar effect with olive oil seasoned with some bacon fat. It works well with olive oil alone, too. The chefs also make their own chorizo, and mix up their own crème fraîche with heavy cream and buttermilk, then spike it with yuzu. Home cooks can make things more reasonable using pre-made chorizo and store-bought crème fraîche with a hit of lemon juice (though yuzu is better if you can find it). The confit itself can be done a day or two ahead of time. Just lift the sweet potato slices from the oil and chill them. (To save a few minutes, you can toast the pecans in the oven as you bake the sweet potatoes.) A last note: It does seem like a daunting amount of olive oil, so a reasonably inexpensive brand will do. The leftover oil can be saved in the refrigerator to slick the bottom of the sauté pan or round out a pasta sauce for future meals.
Corn and Celery Stir-Fry
Corn kernels stir-fried with pine nuts is a northern Chinese dish that shows off the versatility of fresh, sweet corn. While frozen kernels would work in a pinch, this dish is best made with corn at its peak; stir-frying at high heat for just a few minutes locks in the summer sweetness and ensures that every kernel stays plump and juicy. Similarly, flash-fried celery becomes highly perfumed while retaining its crunch. Pine nuts deliver pops of buttery nuttiness, but you could also use cashews or peanuts in their place. Eat alone as a light meal or with rice.
Creamy Ramp Pesto Pasta
Ramps are one of those items that seem so appealing at the market but can be a challenge to use when you get them home. This dish solves the problem. Because the recipe comes from Rachael Ray, who made her name teaching a generation to get dinner on the table in 30 minutes, it’s quick to make once you have the ramps blanched. The pesto comes together fast, so you can make it while the pasta is boiling. The creaminess of the ricotta tempers the ramps, which can vary in their pungency. Pink peppercorns are berries, not true peppercorns. They add a lovely look to the finished pasta and bring a more delicate fruitiness and a quieter heat than black pepper; if you can't find them, black pepper will do just fine.
Chipotle, Peanut and Sesame Seed Salsa
This nutty, spicy salsa with the tang of vinegar is from Veracruz, Mexico, where it’s called salsa macha. It has long been a favorite of Pati Jinich, the Mexican-born chef who lives in Washington, D.C. Her version comes together fast, and offers a lot of character and versatility. Use it to liven up roasted vegetables or grilled meats. It’s especially great on lamb chops and skirt steak, or even baked potatoes served with sour cream and cheese. The salsa lasts for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator; the solids will sink to the bottom, leaving a deeply flavored oil that can add a little muscle to sauces or a finishing touch to other dishes. You can use other nuts in place of the peanuts, or a mix of nuts and sunflower or pumpkin seeds.
Oven-Fried Patatas Bravas (Crispy Potatoes With Two Sauces)
Served with spicy salsa brava and garlicky allioli, crispy hot patatas bravas are traditionally served in tapas bars throughout Spain. The salsa brava is made with pimentón, the smoked Spanish paprika sold as picante (hot) and dulce (sweet). Some cooks include a lot of chopped tomato, but my friends in Madrid tell me they prefer this version, which looks a bit like rusty gravy. As for the allioli, you can mount it by hand with a whisk, or use a stick blender as most Spaniards do. Though patatas bravas are typically pan-fried on the stovetop, I came up with this easier, oven-fried method. The potatoes emerge beautifully browned and crisped, and their flavor is sensational cooked in extra-virgin olive oil. This is not fancy fare. Grab a fork and dip the hot potatoes in both sauces for the optimal experience.
Leafy Herb Salad
This salad is ideal for Thanksgiving or other huge, rich meals, something to nibble on between bites of sour cream potatoes and buttered stuffing. It’s more of an idea than a recipe, so feel free to riff on the greens and herbs involved. It should have about a 1:1 ratio of salad greens to herbs, and be very lemony, with plenty of salt.
Pumpkin Panna Cotta
When you want a pumpkin dessert, but not the heft of a pie, this light and creamy make-ahead custard will do the trick. It's surprisingly simple to prepare; just combine the ingredients in a saucepan, heat, then strain through a sieve and chill for at least 3 hours. Divine.
Corn Risotto
This creamy, pale yellow risotto is studded with chewy fresh corn kernels, making for a nice mix of textures. Making your own corn stock deepens the flavor of this dish, but if you don’t have the time, chicken stock will work. The dish is also pleasingly light, for risotto — finishing the dish by folding in airy whipped cream adds richness without also adding heft. Add the cream quickly and carefully right before serving. If it sits in the hot risotto it will melt — which wouldn’t be the end of the world, of course, since you’ll still have a wonderfully creamy risotto.
Twice-Baked Potatoes With Cauliflower and Cheese
This is a recipe that nods at a lesson taught by the British writer Nigel Slater, which is to poach the cauliflower in bay-leaf scented milk while the potatoes bake. The soft florets are then mashed in with the potato flesh and a healthy splash of the cooked milk. Add butter. Top with cheese.