Category: Appetizers/Sides

Spicy Tofu Stir Fry

This quick, simple dish with sweet/tangy/spicy Asian flavors can be an exciting vegetarian side or a main course. Recipe below.

Spicy Tofu Stir Fry

TOFU IS A WONDERFUL BLANK CANVAS, ready to take on all kinds of flavors and textures, depending on the tofu you choose and how you cook it. It’s also a chameleon, used in many cuisines in many countries. It’s often used as a vegetarian source of protein, but then again, many Asian dishes combine it with animal protein. Spicy Tofu Stir Fry is a vegetarian dish, but it can be served as a side or as a main course. See what we mean? Continue reading “Spicy Tofu Stir Fry” →

Butter Beans with Roasted Tomatoes

Butter beans cooked with roasted tomatoes, garlic and a red bell pepper, served over Greek yogurt make a delicious light meal or side. Recipe below.

Butter Beans with Roasted Tomatoes

THE OTHER DAY, I WAS NOODLING AROUND ONLINE, actually hunting for photos of English house interiors, when I stumbled on a recipe from a new book, Ottolenghi Comfort, by Yotam Ottolenghi and his frequent collaborator Helen Goh, along with Verena Lochmuller and Tara Wigley. I am always interested in anything Ottolenghi and his friends create—his first cookbook, Plenty, is a tried-and-true at our house—and this latest collaborative work looks like it will be marvelous too. One recipe that caught my eye was Butter Beans with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes. Continue reading “Butter Beans with Roasted Tomatoes” →

Two deliciously different red cabbage salads

Two recipes this week: Red Cabbage and Carrot Coleslaw, and Korean-inspired Red Cabbage Potsticker Salad.

Red Cabbage and Carrot Cole Slaw

A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO WE WENT TO A BIG FUN FAMILY BARBECUE in Milwaukee, and our daughter Laurel brought a huge bowl of coleslaw—a recipe that as far as I can tell, she made up the night before. It was wonderful! Crisp, flavorful, fresh, crunchy, and very pretty—just the thing to accompany the many awesome, meaty mains. Continue reading “Two deliciously different red cabbage salads” →

Six dishes guaranteed to make you the best barbecue guest

Watermelon Mango Salad with Blue Cheese

IT’S BARBECUE-HOSTING SEASON. And for the lucky ones among us, that means it’s being-invited-to-barbecues season. Of course, that also means it’s what-can-I-bring-to-the-barbecue season. Don’t be the guy who brings a big bag of chips, even the fancy kind. Unless your host specifically tells you to bring chips—in which case, maybe you should ponder the things you’ve brought in the past that were not as good as a bag of chips. For the non-chip bringers among us, here are six recipes that will absolutely shine. Continue reading “Six dishes guaranteed to make you the best barbecue guest” →

A weekend of potato salads

Potato Salad with Capers, Shallots and Mustard

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND IS THE UNOFFICIAL START OF SUMMER. For us, summer is potato salad season, and weekend events conspired to confirm that. First, we were invited to an out-of-town birthday barbecue. Because we were traveling, we didn’t want to do anything mayonnaise based that needed refrigerating. Our Mark Bittman-inspired Potato Salad with Capers, Shallots and Mustard does not. Continue reading “A weekend of potato salads” →

Microwaving puts the quick in Quick Skillet Potatoes

Nuking potatoes instead of parboiling them makes skillet-sautéed potatoes even quicker to fix. Fresh herbs add a nice finish.

Quick Skillet Potatoes

YOU USE IT EVERY DAY. BUT CAN YOU MAKE IT COOK? Mark Bittman asked that about microwave ovens several years ago, when he was still writing The Minimalist column in the New York Times. In the article, he sang the praises of actually cooking fresh foods in your microwave. We don’t do that so much, but we often give fresh foods a head start in the microwave. Nudging carrots toward tenderness before adding them to our classic Chicken and Wine. Speeding up our popular favorite, Half-baked Potatoes. Or skipping parboiling for our Quick Skillet Potatoes, making them nice and tender on inside and crunchy on the outside. You’ll find the recipe for these delicious potatoes—and the Mark Bittman article—right here.

Chickpea Salad—a fresh (and healthier) take on a summer favorite

Fiber-rich chickpeas stand in for potatoes in this crunchy, healthy, summery salad. Recipe below.

Chickpea Salad

THIS VERY SIMPLE DISH IS A RIFF on a recent New York Times recipe, that in turn, is a riff on a summer classic, potato salad. It is ridiculously easy to assemble—a few minutes of measuring, chopping and a bit of stirring. You never even need to turn on the stove. Continue reading “Chickpea Salad—a fresh (and healthier) take on a summer favorite” →

An easy peasy spectacular side dish: Quick Charred Brussels Sprouts

These burned-looking Brussels sprouts are actually perfectly done—and delicious. Extremely simple recipe and variations below.

Quick Charred Brussels Sprouts

SOME HOME COOKS ARE VERY SIDE DISH-FOCUSED. ME, NOT SO MUCH. I want sides to be healthy and delicious, of course, but I also want them to appear magically while I’m working on the main course. These quick charred Brussels sprouts come close. Continue reading “An easy peasy spectacular side dish: Quick Charred Brussels Sprouts” →