Side Dish Recipes & Ideas

Whether they come from your grocery store, your garden, or your neighbor’s garden (if you’re lucky!), you will soon be overrun with zucchini. This time of year, zucchini are plentiful and that’s probably an understatement. These easy grilled zucchini boats stuffed with ground beef, cheddar cheese, and salsa are one of my favorite ways to burn through a big pile of summer zucchini.

When I was a kid, a side of green beans usually meant those long, green vinegary sticks that came in a can. It wasn’t the worst thing to be honest (I had thing for vinegar), but it was definitely one note and a mushy. Think of this recipe for green beans from Our Four Forks as a grown up version that actually tastes good: the green beans are fresh from the farmers market, roasted, and smothered with a vinegary dill pesto.

This beautiful free-form galette is the perfect way to celebrate fresh, seasonal summer vegetables — all tucked into an easy crust with a thick smear of fresh, aromatic pesto. I remember the days when I was still buying ready-made frozen pie crust from the store, mainly for quiches and chicken pot pie. But ever since purchasing my food processor and my trusty pastry blender, those days are long gone.

Peas are in season! How are you taking advantage of them right now? Inspired by Melissa Clark’s peas and cheese salad this week, I wanted to explore other ways this interesting textural combination can come together in a recipe. From pesto to lasagna, these four bloggers know what their doing in today’s Delicious Links. A cheese that’s a little bit creamier (and maybe stinky) with bright, fresh pop-in-you-mouth peas just sounds so dreamy, don’t you think?

Beet greens are like the Robin to beet’s Batman: always the side kick, never the star. But please! Don’t toss beet greens to the side (or worse, the trash). This nutrient-dense green can be used for so much more, and not just as a substitute for kale or spinach in your salads. These four bloggers show us how it’s done in today’s Delicious Links.

Ramp season is short, people. Have you had your fill? The trendy allium deserves a spot in your dinner rotation this week, and these four bloggers can show the way to sneak it into your favorite foods like pizza, pasta, and even egg dishes. I’m personally excited about the ramp kimchi. Sure, it might sound like the trendiest food you could ever imagine, but it also sounds kind of amazing, right? If you want something a little easier, go for the pesto. Pesto will never let you down.

While I love being in the kitchen, there are times when I just need a quick but nice meal. I have a list of these meals that I keep tucked away for when company shows up unexpectedly or I want a bit of an extra-fancy feel to our average daily meal. Polenta, ravioli, and especially gnocchi tend to be my go-to’s because the meals are filling, beautiful, and easily adapted to what I have on hand at the time.

Asparagus and radishes are like the Christmas elves of spring: appearing out of nowhere in festive green and scarlet, letting us know that something very good is on the way. But I don’t find them together in the same dish as often as I would like. They belong together: the mellow sweetness of fresh asparagus tastes so good with the fresh sharpness of radishes. This quick, easy side dish tosses them together with a handful of mint.

This time of year slays me; in New York City, the snow is pretty much finished, the ear muffs have been packed up and early daffodils and crocus blossoms are poking their way through the packed city soil. And yet, there is no food growing yet. It’s the season when my dreams are populated with ramps, fiddlehead ferns and asparagus.

Looking for a fresh option for lunch? This is an ideal fall and winter soup: creamy without being heavy (and without cream!), bright, and packing an unexpected and zesty lemongrass flavor. This is the recipe to have on hand when you feel like making soup, but actually want to be eating it 30 minutes later. It comes together incredibly quickly and combines rich squash with a crunchy garnish. The lemongrass flavor comes through bright and clear, with a little help from the ginger.

Across Asia, dumplings symbolize good luck for the Lunar New Year. In preparation for this year’s celebration, I decided to learn how to make one of my favorite dumpling dishes, the Korean hobakjuk or pumpkin porridge with sweet rice dumplings. If you aren’t familiar with the Asian tradition of sweet soups and porridges, it might help to think of this as a pudding.

The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah typically arrives in December, but I start getting excited for it sometime around Labor Day. I love lighting the menorah (Hanukkah candelabra) and watching the candles’ reflection, warm and comforting, in my window. And I crave the overall feeling of coziness that comes with the season. But what I long for most are the latkes — fried potato pancakes that Jewish families fry up during the eight-day holiday.

If you’re looking for an easy, healthy, and absolutely delicious side dish to complete your Thanksgiving menu, look no further. (Bonus points for not taking up precious oven or stovetop space!) Can I just say that I am officially obsessed with whipped cauliflower now? My family is set in their Thanksgiving ways, which doesn’t bother me in the least.

When we think of meatless sources of protein, foods like beans, tofu, and cheese generally top the list. But one of my favorites is quinoa (shark-jumping be darned!) — not only is it a delicious and complete protein, but it’s also rich in iron and fiber, vegan-friendly, gluten-free, and unprocessed. For ethical farming reasons, I always make sure to buy Fair Trade quinoa. This season I’m baking quinoa into a savory pie with roasted winter squash and aromatic herbs and spices.

I adore Brussels sprouts but they can be tricky to cook just right, especially if one’s attention is on lots of other dishes, as in the case of a holiday dinner. This Thanksgiving I’ve found the solution: smoky, lemony shredded and sautéed brussels sprouts! The sprouts can be shredded a day ahead and then get quickly cooked just before serving, eliminating any worry about soggy, under-cooked, over-charred, or otherwise less than yummy Brussels sprouts.

Grits don’t need me to wax poetic about them. People already do that. A lot. Chefs dress them up real pretty and escort them ’round the dining room with heritage pigs and heirloom whatever-the-garden-trends and call them a revelation in a way I reckon makes seasoned Southern cooks roll their eyes and scoff a little. Haven’t they been saying so all along? Grits have history the furthest thing from fancy, but from then til haute cuisine, they sure do make a meal.

Autumn is always a difficult transition for me, as I am the type of person who is happiest under a blaze of sunshine and who considers anything below 73 degrees to be “freezing.” But every year it’s the pumpkins that rescue me from impending gloom, reminding me just how wonderful and delicious fall can be. This is my first pumpkin dish of the season, made from roasted kabocha, or Japanese pumpkin, whipped into a creamy soup with sweet potatoes and miso.

I just returned from a weekend away and discovered seven huge, funky, end-of-season tomatoes in my refrigerator where I’d thrown them for safe-keeping days prior when I dashed out the door to the airport. The days of Caprese salads are sadly over for this year, but for those of us who have a few misshapen, soft-in-spots tomatoes kicking around the kitchen, there are options for using them up. Tomato soup is one of my favorites.

While talking food with a friend recently, he drew a definitive line in the sand when he said, “I’m pretty sure I’m not having the same love affair with kale that everyone else seems to be having.” I sensed that he hasn’t spent enough time with kale, under the right circumstances, or in the best company.

I have never met a challah I did not like. There is simply something magical about the puffed, egg-enriched loaves that sit at the center of many Jewish holiday meals and that make an extravagant base for French toast. And yet as a kid, I would count down the days to Rosh Hashanah when my mom would bring home challah baked specially for the holiday.

With all the hustle and bustle in our daily lives, I can’t think of anything better than stocking the freezer with a couple of homemade casseroles. There is something about these piping-hot, one-dish meals that can satisfy the weariest of souls. This from-scratch version of King Ranch Casserole gets rid of the cans and is destined to become a modern-day classic.

Pizza on the grill is my number-one way to entertain outdoors. Just ask any of my friends and neighbors, and they’ll tell you there is always a fresh pie on the grates. I love creating new flavors using up the last of my farmers market finds, and cherry tomato, corn, and goat cheese pizza is one of the best. This grilled pizza showcases some of my favorite summer ingredients, and the glorious taste of that summer goodness will please your dinner guests completely.

I’m five weeks into my CSA this year, and my weekly haul is gradually picking up. This week I got a few more tomatoes, a handful of potatoes, more blueberries, corn, and the first eggplant. So what to do with all this produce? Here’s what I’m thinking: Red Bliss and Yukon Gold Potatoes Swiss chard Blueberries Kirby Cucumbers Eggplant: Baba GhanoushStir-Fried Chicken and Eggplant With Asian BasilThe New York Times. Green Beans: Get the recipe here.

On Monday I posted a retro recipe for cabbage and ramen slaw. Today I’m offering another throwback salad that also deserves its time in the sun. Three bean salad is a summer picnic and potluck favorite, and for very good reason. You’ll find at least one version (or fifty) of three bean salad in any community cookbook you stumble across. I actually took a few minutes to flip through the pages of some of my many old cookbooks, and I was fascinated at the different variations.

Tabbouleh is one of those dishes that lends itself towards improvisation, which is both a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that we can feel free to throw it together without a lot of stress and worry, which has resulted in many delicious, creative variations. The curse is that this kind of abandon can lead to the essence of an herb-intense tabbouleh getting lost.

Last week my husband and I packed up the car and drove nearly 500 miles to Atlanta to celebrate my sister’s wedding. I love a good road trip. It gives you time to think and to talk, and to watch the landscape of mountains and fields roll by. While free of the discomforts of plane travel, car travel does carry its own pitfalls, like the lure of fast food and gas station Slurpees.

Over here at The Forest Feast, I have loved sharing spring recipe ideas with you this month! In my final post for this Farmer’s Market Feasts series, I leave you with a simple galette. I love these free form tarts because you can layer almost anything over the pastry and it’s delicious. Plus, since it takes only 15 minutes to bake and can be served room temperature, it’s great for entertaining. This week at the market I found the most gorgeous scarlet turnips.

There are perhaps two universal truths that all of us (non-vegetarian) writers at The Kitchnshare: a mutual love for flavorful, inexpensive chicken thighs and for rich, hearty braises. When the first is paired with the second, their powers know no bounds. And a braise might sound like more of a cold-weather meal, I really love the savory combination all year round — plus it’s an easy one-pot dinner for weeknights.

This week at The Forest Feast, I needed to use up some chard from the nearby farmers market, so I cooked up a big skillet tortilla Espanola. This dish is usually made with just potatoes and onions, but I like to add some greens — it becomes almost like a crustless quiche. The addition of the colorful chard lightens the dish a bit, but is still quite filling. I like that this meal is made in a single pan and works well for breakfast, lunch, or dinner!

I grew up in a household of musical-lovers. My sisters and mother and I spent hours snuggled up under blankets on the couch, watching Singing in the Rain and Brigadoon and other classics. One of our favorites was a 1935 piece of sparkling fluff called Naughty Marietta, withJeanette MacDonald as a French princess who flees an loathsome marriage — all the way to the New World, where she meets the handsome Nelson Eddy, a militia captain who of course falls for her bubble-headed charm.

It’s not very often that I whip up a plated lamb dinner for friends. Good-quality lamb is a real splurge, but sometimes life’s events call for nothing less than the best. This simple, showstopping menu does just that. My fiancé and I celebrated our “anti-versary” this weekend (which is a long story in and of itself) that just so happened to coincide with some of our dearest friends “real” anniversary.

We had some friends over for potluck dinner a few weeks ago, and one couple brought some fennel and citrus to roast, inspired by a recipe in the Jerusalem cookbook. Right before pulling them out of the oven, my friend Olaiya tossed in a generous handful of kalamata olives. The result was one of the more glorious things I’ve tasted coming out of a roasting pan: warm and citrusy with a salty kick from the olives and a slight bite from a mustard vinaigrette.

Here in Southern California, winter is on its way out and I have never felt more ready to give kale salads a rest. Right now I am craving all that is crunchy, fresh and pale green — like this salad, which mixes a dill-flecked dressing with sweet sugar snap peas, crisp celery, chopped romaine and pretty, pink-edged radish slices that remind me of spring’s first blossoms winking to life. The crunchiness of this salad makes it a great candidate for lunch.

Eggplants were on sale at the market this week, so I picked one up and challenged myself to do something other than fry it. Since fried eggplant is so delicious in dishes like Eggplant Parmesan, I think it tends to be my easy go-to answer. I had something else in mind this time: an afternoon snack with a quick, delicious tahini dip that would carry us through until dinner.

You probably already know that roasting winter vegetables turns them soft, caramelized and irresistible. But what you might not know is that tossing them with a three-ingredient dressing of miso paste, lime juice and walnut oil gives them a savory, bright and beguiling flavor that will make people wonder why the roasted vegetables you make are so much better than the roasted vegetables they make. What makes a recipe a keeper?

One of the remarkable things about this savory potato and leek galette is that it looks fancy, yet the ingredients are simple and inexpensive. The potatoes are plain old russets, the fat is olive oil instead of butter, and even though it’s gluten-free and vegan, the galette is pleasantly starchy and creamy — a perfect cross between comfort food and an elegant, company-worthy dish.

I’ve been doing a lot of cooking this week, and it’s been really nice. When my marriage ended a year ago, I was suddenly thrown back into cooking by myself again, and at first I was lost at sea. I had forgotten everything I’d known — the touch and the feel of cooking — that I’d had ten years earlier when I was single.

Creamed spinach is a classic, decadent side dish, but it also makes a fine nest for baked eggs. Despite its name, cream weighs down the spinach, so half-and-half or whole milk is a better choice. On the other hand, skim milk is puny, meager, and inadequate. Starting with fresh spinach requires an extra prep step, but the flavor and texture are so superior to frozen spinach that it’s worth it. (You can make the creamed spinach the night before!

Do you have a smell that so completely reminds you of a certain person, a special memory, or an exact place in time? As I stood above this bubbling pot of chicken and sausage gumbo, my childhood self was immediately transported to my late grandmother’s house in Florida, where flavors of her Louisiana heritage always greeted us upon arrival. We all know there are as many gumbos as there are cooks, and there’s no right or wrong way to make it. (Insert comment war here!

The dish I’m about to share is really two recipes in one – heavenly together but also good building blocks for many other meals this fall and winter. First up is a creamy, yet dairy-free, soup with roasted fall vegetables like butternut squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, and parsnips. Then come the dumplings. Roasting the vegetables amplifies and deepens their flavors. Pureed with vegetable stock, they form a velvety, comforting soup.

I have suffered from a slight obsession with kale recently, especially the dark Tuscan and dino varieties. I’m eating it raw in salads, roasted until crispy for a snack, sautéed on the side to round out a meal. Yum. I plan on carrying my green addiction right on into the fall with this hearty harvest pizza. Given the need to roast the squash and fry the bacon, this isn’t exactly the kind of pizza you can throw together last-minute on a weeknight.

These whipped sweet potatoes are a great recipe when you need to get out of a vegetable rut. They’re a little more dressed up than the average weeknight side so think of them as a minimalist dish for your holiday feast. With coconut milk for interest and richness, and a swirl of vanilla bean paste, consider adding this to the Thanksgiving table when you want something on the sweeter side that still leaves the marshmallows out of the equation.

It’s funny how precisely the weather seems to adhere to the calendar year; the first day of fall immediately brought vibrant leaves and cooler breezes to Georgia. My appetite also succumbs to these changes and my urge for comfort food grows strong—out with vine-ripe tomatoes and grilled summer corn, bring on the hearty braises and savory stews.

As if to turn on a dime, the little person I cook for and eat with most often went from proclaiming that oysters were her favorite food to announcing that her favorite food was in fact a hamburger. I knew this would happen. So, in an effort to temper meat consumption, but still occasionally provide her with what she says she loves, we make a big stink out of it: clapping out our own patties, simmering sweet onions, and now, making our own ketchup.

Ahh, one of our favorite dishes in the summer; fresh tomatoes, buffala mozzarella, and fresh basil layered together, and then drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt and pepper.Caprese salad is a popular Italian summertime dish. The dish incorporates the colors of the Italian flag, and uses the freshest summer ingredients. Tester’s NotesI just received a beautiful pile of late summer heirloom tomatoes from a gardening friend.

A bowlful of brown rice, tempeh, kale, and other veggies has “health food” written all over it, but in our house we hardly think of this recipe as macrobiotic or vegan or anything else but satisfying. Brimming with the perfect balance of flavors and textures, it satiates the senses and even has my barbecue- and burger-loving guy requesting it for dinner.

I had my first experience of the Nickel Diner in downtown Los Angeles a few weeks ago, and you can bet I zeroed right in on the “Eggs Baked on Polenta with Spinach.” My decision did not go unrewarded. In fact, I couldn’t stop thinking about this dish and its divine trifecta of savory breakfast treats, even after I’d boarded my plane and flew home. The creamy polenta was the first piece of the puzzle.

Yesterday Cambria shared a family recipe for African peanut stew, a celebratory dish made with beef, spices, and rich peanut butter. The classic side dish for this meal — and indeed, nearly any meal throughout much of eastern Africa — is sukuma wiki, braised greens with a very apt meaning to their name! Do you know what sukuma wiki means? A meal in Kenya, with ugali, chapati, a meat stew, and sukuma wiki.

A family recipe is important, even if we don’t remember all the parts, because each attempt at its re-creation keeps us connected to the people who helped shape us. It happens each time we do that intimate, life-sustaining cooking and eating thing, especially when we do it from a place of memory.

It took me a long time to warm up to quinoa. I felt like I was the only one not on the super-grain-(that’s-not-really-a-grain-but-who-cares) bandwagon. But my attempts at quinoa had all turned out sticky and faintly bitter, a health food to choke down. So how did I get from there to here, to this lemon-scented golden salad with crunchy bits of cucumber, radish, and almonds? (There are dates, dill, and Parmesan in there too, plus a secret ingredient that really makes it sing.

Last week we received a bunch of cute little eight-ball zucchini from our CSA. We thought of stuffingeggs baked inside pattypan squash We hollowed out each squash, filled the shell with a bit of tomato sauce and tangy goat cheese, topped it with an egg, and popped it in the oven until the yolk was just set and still creamy. We ate it with crusty bread for brunch, but it would also be delicious as a simple summer dinner.

Do you enjoy eating spicy food in hot weather? I love the refreshing combination of cool cucumbers and hot chile peppers, as in the case of Korean oi muchim. This quick and easy salad makes a great potluck dish, or a fiery alternative to kosher dill or bread and butter pickles alongside sandwiches. And, of course, it’s excellent alongside Korean BBQ (meat or tofu).

So you want to make something red, white, and blue to celebrate the 4th of July, but you’re not really into sweets. Or you want to avoid red and blue food coloring, Well, I have two awesome savory options for you, from two smart bloggers. Salad, and cheese — Independence Day-style!These are both ultra-simple ideas, and all the prettier for it.The first is a Red, White, and Blue Summer Salad from Roni at GreenLiteBites.

Stir-fries aren’t usually the well-edited dishes you think about and shop for in advance. They are frequently renegade, use-up-what’s-in-the-fridge meals, which is part of their charm. But not so with this recipe. I chose these particular ingredients deliberately, picking up pork tenderloin for a mid-week treat and adding lots of fresh spring vegetables for crunch.

The days when you allow the farmers market to dictate what you make for dinner are kind of awesome days. To be quite honest, they’ve become rarer and rarer around our house as we’ve become busier during the weekends. But there’s something quite sweet about ambling around the market and chatting about what you could make with certain ingredients. This weekend, we had time to visit our local farmers market and found some beautiful looking sorrel, leeks, and farm eggs.

My parents visited Sicily last fall (lucky dogs!) and brought back a wonderful recipe to accompany any main dish at dinner. I’ve riffed on the combination of blood oranges, mint, and red onion and added my own spin. The results? Shockingly good in color and in flavor! For me the perfect salad is crucial to any supper. The lighter notes can take center stage as the base of the meal or they can play in contrast to something heavier.

I was all set to write an amazing breakfast post for you this week — it’s breakfast week at The Kitchn you know — and then I got the call from the producers of the Martha Stewart show asking me to come make a three-course meal from my book, Good Food to Share. It would be in front of a studio audience with Martha by my side. Gulp.

There are two secrets to very good, very crispy diner-style hash browns. The first is squeezing the shredded potatoes as dry as possible. The second is a generous — though not gratuitous, mind you — amount of butter. Here is how it’s done. Definitely use a cast-iron skillet to cook your hash browns if you have one.

They say the sign of an excellent cook is in their soup. But they also say that about their roast chicken. And their eggs. What dish do you think represents a good cook? As for me, I hope it’s not the former. You see, soup is not my favorite thing to cook, nor is it my favorite thing to eat.