Side Dish
4106 recipes found
Parsley Salad With Fennel and Horseradish
I have always been the one at the Seder table to eat the parsley dipped in saltwater with enthusiasm. “You going to finish that?” I might ask my neighbor at the table when I see they have left theirs untouched after just a nibble. This salad is an obvious nod to the Seder plate, including both parsley (bitter herbs) and fresh horseradish, except it’s less ceremonial and more just a very delicious salad. I love, love parsley and think a well-seasoned bowl of it is something that most tables can benefit from, especially if those tables include braised pots of red meat. While parsley and fennel can be prepared ahead of time, the salad itself is best dressed right before you eat.
Roasted Mushroom Larb
Earthy mushrooms replace meat in this take on larb. A dish popular in the northern and northeastern regions of Thailand, larb is often a lively combination of cooked minced meat, fresh herbs and a punchy dressing. In this recipe, mushrooms are roasted until golden brown and crispy around the edges, and, once cooled, tossed with a mix of cilantro, mint, basil and aromatics, including sliced scallions. Lime juice and soy sauce keep the dressing tangy and savory. A subtle, nutty crunch from toasted ground rice is an essential element of the salad, so don’t skip this step. Serve the dish with steamed rice and additional lime wedges for squeezing. To get vegetarian recipes like this one delivered to your inbox, sign up for The Veggie newsletter.
Crispy Potato Kugel
At its core, kugel is a casserole. It comes in both savory and sweet varieties, often made with egg noodles and vaguely sweetened. This version, made with potatoes, is decidedly salty and savory, with onions in the mixture and chives to finish. It can best be described as something between a Spanish tortilla and a giant latke; the potatoes are shredded, not sliced, there are eggs but no flour, and it’s got crispy edges and a creamy interior. Sounds dreamy, doesn’t it? The most annoying parts of this kugel are also the most important: grating the potatoes (I use a box grater, but you can use a food processor with the shredding blade) and wringing out their moisture. For that, I use my hands and a colander or strainer to save a kitchen towel or a cheesecloth, but you can use those, if you like. Traditionally made in a casserole-style baking dish, this kugel starts off in a cast-iron skillet, but a stainless-steel skillet would do the job, and honestly so would a baking dish, just know you may be sacrificing that crunchy underside.
Pasta and Bean Soup
The chef Tom Valenti channels his late grandmother in his cooking, utilizing her ''stove top approach to life'' by braising and stewing and slow cooking the kinds of food that snowstorms were made for. Her pasta and bean soup, a treat for carb-lovers with its addition of mashed potatoes to thicken the broth, was one of many old-country comfort foods that she fed Mr. Valenti during his childhood.
Elaine's Scrambled Eggs
Braised White Beans and Greens With Parmesan
Inspired by the Italian dish of sautéed puntarelle (an Italian variety of chicory) and white beans, this recipe makes a satisfying vegetarian main course or a hearty side dish for roast chicken or sausages. It opts for canned white beans, for the sake of weeknight convenience, and Swiss chard, which is much milder than puntarelle and easier to find in the U.S. Kale or escarole would also work well, if that’s what you’ve got. On that note, grated Pecorino Romano cheese gives the broth a more pungent element, but Parmesan will work in its place. Serve in shallow bowls with toasted country bread to mop up the garlicky broth.
Khichdi
Khichdi is reassuring, everyday fare, made from a mix of rice and lentils, cooked together in one pot until tender and seasoned with a splash of spice-infused fat. In India, it can be on the firmer side or more mushy, stripped down to the basics or more embellished, but it’s always a comfort. To make the dish a meal, serve it with a drizzle of ghee on top and some chopped cilantro leaves, a spoonful of full-fat yogurt on the side and a little jarred Indian-style lime pickle.
Slow-Roasted Tomato Sauce With Pasta
Instead of standing over a bubbling cauldron all day long, wondering how many dots of sauce you can collect on your apron, let the oven do all the work. You’ll want to use canned tomatoes here, rather than fresh ones, because you can trust that the canned ones were picked at peak season, their flavors amplified by being preserved in a can with a little salt. By roasting them in a low oven for a few hours, you’re effectively adding umami to an already umami-packed ingredient. Well, the oven is. You’re not doing a thing except boiling some pasta, and eventually, marveling at how such a rich red sauce came from such humble, any-season ingredients.
St. John Beans and Bacon
The London chef Fergus Henderson specializes in making British classics even more delicious at his popular restaurant St. John. Here’s his fragrant, richly flavored version of traditional baked beans with salt pork, a dish that evolved into an American staple. Using lots of fresh herbs and a little canned tomato is the key; pass crusty bread at the table to mop up the sauce.
Fried Artichokes
These deserve to be served as a separate course, eaten with your fingers. The basic method is the same for French fries — the first frying cooks and the second, hotter frying crisps. Roman cimaroli or mammole artichokes do not have the sharp thorns of our American globe variety and are picked before their chokes have fully developed, so I have made some adjustments to the original recipe to remove the choke here. Don’t let it intimidate you; the first frying and a grapefruit spoon or melon baller makes it relatively easy to manage.
Beet and Barley Salad With Date-Citrus Vinaigrette
Have fun with this early fall salad, meant for Rosh Hashana but festive throughout the season. Bitter and tart greens, like arugula, crunchy romaine and celery, pair well with shallots or red onion, dates, dried figs, a handful of multicolored olives and crisp, refreshing cucumbers. About a cup of cooked barley adds chew, but you could use lentils or chickpeas instead for more protein. If you can find them, heirloom varieties of barley add wonderful nutty complexity. Beets — used in ancient times more for the leaves than the roots — currants and green grapes lend color and sweetness, as well as a pomegranate, the symbol of fruitfulness by virtue of its many seeds. All these foods are symbolic of fertility, abundance, and prosperity in the New Year.
Creamy Mashed Potatoes
This very simple recipe for silky mashed potatoes calls for roasting potatoes whole instead of chopping and boiling them, which concentrates their flavor and avoids a watery final product. The riced potatoes are light and fluffy, and just enough milk and butter are added to create rich, velvety potatoes while still allowing pure potato flavor to shine through. The mashed potatoes can be made a few hours ahead and pressed on top with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming; rewarm over low heat before serving, adding a touch more milk if necessary.
Vegan Mac and Cheese
Many creamy vegan pasta recipes call for an arsenal of expensive ingredients, but this one relies on more approachable ones, like cashews and almond milk for richness, nutritional yeast for tang and soy sauce for complex saltiness. Sautéed onions do double duty: They serve as a thickener and help offset the sweetness of the cashews. This simple stovetop pasta is wonderful on its own, but feel free to add roasted vegetables, fresh herbs, spices, harissa or hot sauce. For a quick-baked version worthy of Thanksgiving dinner, pile the prepared mac and cheese into a casserole dish, top with panko and more nutritional yeast, and broil for a few minutes until golden brown.
Crispy Chickpeas With Beef
Related to a classic chili, this fast-cooking recipe combines legumes, meat and spices, with excellent results. This dish works equally well with canned or home-cooked chickpeas; if you like a bit more kick, double or triple the ancho chiles or chile powder. Turmeric or saffron also work well. Don't want to use ground beef? Ground turkey, chicken or pork would sub in well here; add a little oil to the pan first. For a bit more flavor, add a clove or two of chopped garlic to the browning meat. The point is: improvise.
Basic Herb Salsa
Serve this bright, simple sauce alongside any grilled fish, shellfish or meat. Use as a garnish for rice, quinoa or farro. Drizzle over roasted sweet potatoes, carrots and beets. Or spoon over poached eggs and hash.
Kongguksu (Cold Soy Milk Noodle Soup)
Traditionally enjoyed during the summertime in Korea, this refreshing cold noodle dish requires just five ingredients: cucumbers, dried soybeans, pasta, salt and water. The base of the dish is a nutty and rich homemade soy-milk broth, which is served ice-cold over thin wheat noodles. There’s minimal hands-on work, but overnight soaking time is required, so plan ahead. Once the beans are fully soaked, the meal comes together in just 30 minutes. Adjust the thickness of the broth by adding more or less water, and for extra earthy flavor, try adding 1/4 cup of roasted pine nuts, peanuts or sesame seeds before blending. If you like, you can make the broth ahead of time and keep it in the refrigerator until ready to serve. You can also freeze it, but once thawed, whiz it in the blender to restore its smooth texture.
Avocado and Onion Salad
Avocado, onion, oil and vinegar are all that’s needed for ensalada de aguacate y cebolla, with rich, creamy avocado against the assertive crunch of onion, plus oil and vinegar accentuating the contrast. According to “Gran Cocina Latina: The Food of Latin America” (W. W. Norton, 2012) by Maricel Presilla, this combination is found in many Caribbean and Andean traditions, served as a starter or alongside almost any dish but especially rich stews and meats. Florida avocados are larger and can taste greener than buttery Hass avocados; when they’re in season, use them for this salad. While sometimes embellished with tomato, watercress, tropical fruits or seafood, start with the simple recipe below, and see why it’s a mainstay on so many tables.
Carrot-Parsnip Soup With Parsnip Chips
Winter root vegetables lend their complementary, slightly sweet flavors to this hearty soup that came to The Times from Cooking Light magazine. Parsnip chips – thinly-sliced parsnips fried for five minutes in olive oil – sprinkled over the top add a delightful crunch. Stir in more water or broth if you prefer a thinner consistency.
Watermelon and Grapefruit Salad With Tahini
This fruit salad is simple to make but thrilling to eat because it hits all the marks of a good salad in surprising ways. The base is crunchy-sweet watermelon and tangy-tart grapefruit. (If you can’t eat grapefruit, substitute orange sprinkled with lemon or lime juice.) These two fruits look similar, but taste different, and that is part of the fun of eating them together. Tahini is used like a nuttier, richer oil, and honey mellows the mix. The balance really depends on the quality of your ingredients, though, so adjust to taste until each bite races between sweet, savory, juicy and creamy.
Tomato, Fresh Fig and Blue Cheese Salad
Whether you get them from your backyard garden or the local farmers' market, tomatoes are one of summer’s sweetest staples. In the kitchen, one of the best things a cook can do with a surfeit of ripe summer tomatoes is not to cook them. With such tasty beauties available (and given the tomato-pleasing heat), salads make more sense. Start simply by slicing big tomatoes into rounds and cutting smaller ones into wedges and the cherry and grape varieties in half. Very gently toss them with fresh herbs, balsamic vinegar, olive oil and good salt. Use whatever you’ve got to hand to dress up the pile. Here, we’ve used some crumbled blue cheese for tang, fresh figs for sweetness and a sprinkle of toasted pine nuts for crunch.
Green Bean and Tomato Salad
This simple summer salad pairs beautifully with practically any grilled meat or fish, and it's quite easy to make. Just blanch the green beans until crisp tender, then toss with wedges of ripe tomato and a bright vinaigrette of Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, garlic, shallots and olive oil. A shower of chopped fresh basil across the top finishes it off.
Roasted Mixed Vegetables
Make this your go-to recipe any time roasted vegetables are on the menu. The technique will work for any high-moisture vegetable, and the process of cutting your selected vegetables into 1-inch pieces allows them all to cook at the same rate. The optional garlicky yogurt sauce turns a pan of roasted veggies into a light meal, especially when paired with some crusty bread or a bowl of rice or other grains, or you can serve these as a colorful side dish.
Apple Compote
This vanilla apple compote is the perfect accompaniment to French potato pancakes.
Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad
Depending on your appetite, this variation on a classic Caesar salad with grilled chicken makes an excellent first-course or a full-on meal. Hitting the lettuce with a little fire is an unexpectedly brilliant trick; the green leaves char and crisp and the insides become slightly tender, but you still get the satisfying crunch everyone loves about romaine. If you're a pescatarian, try it with grilled tuna, salmon or scallops.