Side Dish
4106 recipes found

Borani-yeh Esfenaj (Spinach Yogurt Dip)
There are many types of Iranian borani, or yogurt-based dishes, and spinach borani is a classic. What sets borani-yeh esfenaj apart from a simple mix of wilted spinach and yogurt is that the spinach is first cooked down with flavorful golden onions, garlic and turmeric. The preparation of the onion is the backbone of the dish and not to be overlooked. Rather than cooking the onion low and slow, as is done when caramelizing, it’s cooked quickly over a higher heat to draw out its sweet and sharp flavors. Creamy Greek yogurt is mixed with thinner regular yogurt for a balanced consistency. Use more or less of either depending on your preference: You can serve the borani thicker as a dip with pita crackers or flat breads, or thinner as a light lunch or snack alongside rice.

Baked Camembert Salad
Cheese encased in pastry and baked until brown might seem like an old-fashioned dish, but it’s one of the most reliable ways to please a small group of omnivorous people. Flaky pastry, warm, runny cheese, what’s not to like? Baking is also a great way to turn a mediocre wheel of cheese into something great. Cut the wheel in half, sandwich it with something savory and something sweet and wrap it up tightly with pastry. If you want to replace it with Brie, or another soft cheese with an edible rind, feel free — just make sure there aren’t gaps in the sides of the pastry, or the cheese will leak out in the oven.

Lemon Sweet Rolls With Cream Cheese Icing
These sweet, lemony rolls are a fresh alternative to classic cinnamon rolls. A little cardamom in the dough and filling enhances the bright citrus flavor without overtaking it. This dough is adaptable: You can let the dough rise in the refrigerator, instead of at room temperature, so you can serve fresh, warm rolls for breakfast without getting up at the crack of dawn to make them.

Southern-Fried Sweet Onion Rings
Thin enough to flash-fry but thick enough to let the sweet onion flavor shine through, these onion rings work well as a side dish but also are great as a stand-alone snack. Less is more when dipping the rings in the buttermilk mixture and then the flour mixture. Be delicate in the coating process, and make sure to let as much liquid and then as much flour fall off as possible. Less breading means less grease absorption and a crisper finished product. The flour should be as fine as possible, so reserve half of the flour mixture. When the first batch starts to get wet and gummy, replace it with the remaining half. The oil temperature matters, too. Heat the oil to at least 360 degrees, and fry the rings in batches. They cook so quickly it is easy to get through the frying in 10 minutes. Keep them warm in a 200 degree oven until all the frying is done.

Yotam Ottolenghi’s Tomato and Pomegranate Salad
Here is a dish that melds the best flavors of summer into a robust salad. Yotam Ottolenghi calls for cherry tomatoes, but summer’s best tomatoes would also be right at home among the feta, mint and za’atar, the Middle Eastern spice blend. Serve it alongside grilled meat, preferably in the back yard, summer nipping at the heels.

Caramelized Onion Dip With Frizzled Leeks
Though onion-powder dip does give me a teenage memory buzz, I remember equally well the time I first slow-cooked a batch of onions, watching them easily turn from white to pale yellow to walnut (at which point you have to start minding them with care). These caramelized babies form the basis of scores of top-notch dishes, from onion soup to real Indian stews and sauces, but nowhere are they better used than as the basis for a dip: stir them, along with some lemon juice and thyme leaves, into yogurt or sour cream, and you’re on your way to dip nirvana. And just as your mother — or at least mine — made onion-sour-cream dip better with (French’s) canned fried onions, you can also take that idea back a hundred years and improve it: fry some leeks or shallots until they’re crisp. If you can manage to not eat those as you remove them from the pan, they enhance the dip even more.

Crisp Smashed Potatoes With Fried Onions and Parsley
Some of you may be thinking, “Does the world need another crisp smashed potato recipe?” At least some of you are saying, “Yes, we do!” So here you go. Regular olive oil works if you don't have chicken fat around, but this recipe is so good, it's worth roasting a chicken. A few tips: Don’t over-steam the potatoes or they will fall apart, but don’t under-steam or you’ll never be able to crush them. Also, let the potatoes cool a bit before you smash them so they dry out a bit; this, too, helps them stay intact. Finally, the chicken fat (or oil) must be very hot. If it is not hot enough, it will soak into the potato rather than crisp it. These are the best. And the crispiest. Make them. You’ll be so happy. (This recipe is adapted from "Dining In: Highly Cookable Recipes" by Alison Roman.)

Zahav’s Hummus ‘Tehina’
This recipe comes from Zahav, the chef Michael Solomonov’s Israeli restaurant in Philadelphia, which is known for its silky and wonderfully rich hummus. Garlic and lemon play small roles here; the indisputable co-stars are the freshly cooked chickpeas and the nutty tahini. While it’s well worth the effort to cook the dried chickpeas yourself, substituting a couple of cans of cooked chickpeas is perfectly acceptable.

Caprese Antipasto
If you have ever eaten a caprese salad and wished that you could linger with it longer, that there were more tomatoes to spear with your fork, or more milky slices of cheese on the plate, then this is the dish for you. Best at the height of tomato season, it embellishes on the classic caprese, taking its five simple elements — mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, salt and olive oil — and adding roasted peppers, caperberries (or capers), olive and prosciutto. The result is a luscious lunch or light dinner that will make your dining companions swoon. You will wonder why you didn’t think of it sooner. Serve with a crusty loaf of bread on the side.

Herby Potato Salad With Smashed Olives
As with coleslaw, there are two schools of potato salad: the mayonnaise-based and the vinegar-based. This recipe plants itself firmly in the latter camp with bright, punchy flavors. The dressing here is a classic red-wine vinegar and Dijon vinaigrette that develops great flavor after marinating with capers, smashed green olives and thinly sliced shallots. Just fifteen minutes in the dressing softens the shallot’s bite, and a quick soak brings canned olives to life. There may appear to be too much dressing when you add the cooked potatoes, but as the potatoes cool, they’ll absorb it beautifully. (The key is to add them to the dressing as soon as they are cool enough to handle.) Any small potatoes will work for this recipe, and a mix of colors looks particularly nice. The most important detail is that the potatoes should be roughly the same size so that they cook evenly.

Chicken Meatballs
These meatballs started out, funnily enough, as a meatloaf for a meal at home one night with our actual family. For the stewed-chicken-and-rice recipe, instead of forming a loaf, we made small, attractive meatballs, baked them briefly and then added them to the final stew with a chicken-skin garnish.

Nem Nuong (Vietnamese Sausage)
Traditionally grilled over charcoal, these little sausages also cook up beautifully in a cast-iron pan. Serve them in a bowl over rice noodles or steamed jasmine rice with fresh mint and cilantro, cucumbers and pickled carrots. Top with green chiles and toasted peanuts, then drizzle with fish sauce and lime. Or, use to make banh mi sandwiches. Be sure to use ground pork with enough fat or you'll end up with dry, flavorless sausage. Twenty percent by weight is a good ratio, though 25 doesn’t hurt. If the ground pork available to you is too lean, ask the butcher to replace two ounces or so of the lean meat with ground pork belly or bacon.

Grilled Corn, Mexican Style
Not only is this recipe very easy, it results in the kind of deep flavor associated with the crunchy street corn of Mexico. In many parts of Mexico, though, that crunchiness is highlighted with a creamy chile-lime sauce. This is more unusual than the tried, true and unbeatable butter-salt-and-pepper combination, and only slightly more complicated. Just mix together mayonnaise, freshly squeezed lime juice, chile powder, salt and pepper. It’s pretty authentic, and a combination that brings out the grilled flavor, and balances the sweetness of fresh corn perfectly.

Grilled Cauliflower Steaks
To enjoy the full-range of cauliflower in one dish, from raw and snappy to caramelized and tender, cut a head into slabs and grill only one side. Flat sides beget more charring than florets because they provide more direct contact with the grill. To ensure the cauliflower doesn’t dry out, grill just one side. The tops will remain juicy and sweet, while the undersides will become deeply browned and nutty. Before grilling, any small bits of cauliflower that would fall through the grates are added raw to a lively sauce of dill, lime juice, chile and peanuts. Feel free to swap in another sauce you like on cauliflower or grilled dishes, like buffalo, parsley-olive or a nutritional yeast dressing.

Boston Baked Beans
Squat, glazed ceramic bean pots lurk in cabinets all over New England. They're traditional for Boston baked beans, but enameled cast iron is faster. Beans in cast iron can be brought to a boil over a burner before the dish goes into the oven; this saves about an hour.

Tomato Salad With Cucumber and Ginger
The classic combination of tomatoes and cucumbers gets new life here from a lively dressing of lime zest and juice, fish sauce and serrano chile inspired by Thai papaya salad. It’s a study in contrasts: Bracing on its own, the salty-spicy vinaigrette is mellowed by fresh summer tomatoes and cucumbers. Large pieces of fresh ginger add a punch of spice without the heat, while cilantro and basil serve as fresh, cooling elements. Enjoy with red curry chicken, coconut rice and a nice crisp beer.

Caramelized Corn With Fresh Mint
This is an invincible weapon in the culinary arsenal: whole corn kernels, simply tossed in a hot skillet of melted butter, and showered with fresh mint when they start to pop and turn brown. It's sweet and savory all at once. And it's divine.

Spicy Corn Pakoras With Mango-Tamarind Chutney
Crisp and deeply seasoned, pakoras are Indian fritters that can be made from almost any vegetable. To emphasize the corn flavor here, fine cornmeal joins the more traditional chickpea flour — along with fresh corn. A ridiculously flavorful chutney, which is sweet, hot and a little sour, accompanies the dish. But a jarred version from the supermarket would certainly work in a pinch.

Maque Choux
This classic Cajun side dish is a sweet, hot, juicy, milky, buttery combination of corn, onions and peppers. It’s often cooked in rendered bacon fat and enriched with heavy cream, but this version relies upon only butter and a little water in their place, which allow the ingredients’ flavors to sing more clearly. While it is commonly understood that Fat Equals Flavor, there is a point at which too much fat actually masks complexities in flavors and dulls their vibrancy. Try the maque choux this way and see if you notice how bold and lively it tastes. If you miss the smokiness that bacon imparts, try instead a pinch of smoked paprika stirred in at the end.

Beet and Potato Salad
This is a better version of a ubiquitous salad found in takeout shops all over France. Salade Russe, as it is called, is a mayonnaise-dressed mixture of potatoes, diced carrots, peas and other vegetables, but usually not beets. Yogurt vinaigrette stands in for mayonnaise here.

Southern Broccoli Salad
A classic sweet and savory Southern broccoli salad combines raw (or barely cooked) broccoli with sweet dried fruit (typically raisins or cranberries), crunchy sunflower seeds and savory Cheddar in a creamy, tangy mayonnaise dressing. Briefly blanching the broccoli in boiling water ensures bright green veggies with a crisp-tender texture. The salad gets better with time, so make it a few hours ahead and refrigerate it. (Reserve the crispy bacon and sprinkle it on top right before serving.) And, if your tastes skew sweet, further increase the sugar by another tablespoon.

Mashed Potato Salad With Scallions and Herbs
Creamier than a classic potato salad, and chunkier and zestier than regular mashed potatoes, this hybrid dish can be served warm or at room temperature, when its texture is at its softest and best. (Never serve this cold; no one likes cold mashed potatoes.) The key to getting the right texture is to cook the potatoes a little more than you would for potato salad, but not so much that they completely fall apart. You are looking for chunks of potatoes coated in a fluffy layer of highly seasoned mashed potatoes. Potato salads tend to absorb their seasonings as they sit, so for the most flavorful dish, be prepared to add more salt, lemon juice and olive oil to taste just before serving.

Stuffed Mushrooms With Panko and Pecorino
These flavorful stuffed mushrooms come together quickly, which makes them great for entertaining. Crunchy panko bread crumbs, instead of the traditional sort, are combined with salty cheese, parsley and garlic, then spooned into mushroom caps and baked until crisp and golden. You can assemble them through Step 2 a few days in advance and pop them into the oven minutes before guests arrive. Pro tip: Don’t throw away the mushroom stems. Freeze them to add to your next pot of stock for unbeatable richness.

Som Tum (Green Papaya Salad)
In Isan (and the rest of Thailand), green papaya salad is called som tum, with “som” meaning “sour” and “tum” referring to the pounding sound of the large pestle used to crush ingredients. It is eaten by itself as a snack, or with marinated grilled beef and chicken.