Side Dish Recipes

Your New Favorite (Corn) Salad

by Anne Maxfield on August 19, 2019

Even thought I was in the throes of moving, when I saw this corn salad recipe on the Smitten Kitchen site, I paused and made it for lunch for friends who were helping us. Just give yourself a little time for the onions to pickle.

Your New Favorite (Corn) Salad

  • 1/2 a small red onion, thinly sliced
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar
  • Slightly heaped 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 6 medium ears corn, shucked
  • 1/3 cup sour cream, or crema
  • 1/3 cup mayonnaise
  • 3 ounces (heaped 1/2 cup) crumbled cotija cheese
  • 1 lime, halved
  • Tajín seasoning or chile powder
  • Handful of fresh cilantro leaves

Combine red onion, red wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons cold water, salt, and sugar in a bowl or jar. Set in fridge until needed. Onions will be very lightly pickled by the time you’re done assembling the salad, but if you can give them 1-2 hours in the fridge, they’ll be better.

Heat a grill or grill pan to medium-high. Lightly oil grill grates and place corn cobs directly on them. Cook corn until charred in spots all over, turning as often as needed. Transfer them to a cutting board to cool slightly.

While you’re grilling your corn, combine sour cream, mayo, and cotija cheese. Spread on the bottom of your serving plate. Cut corn from cobs with a sharp knife and pile it over the cheese mix on the platter. Squeeze the juice of half a lime all over, then scatter with the pickled onion rings from the fridge. Generously shake Tajín or chile powder all over; if you’re using plain chile powder, season with salt and an extra squeeze of lime. Top with cilantro leaves. Cut remaining lime half into wedges and serve alongside. Serve and enjoy right away while the dressing is cold, and the corn is warm!

My verdict: Amazing! I’ve been wanting to try to make elote anyway and seeing this just sealed the deal. I had some chorizo, so we grilled that and served it with the corn salad. It was a perfect summer lunch and there wasn’t a kernel of corn leftover.

It was so good, that in the middle of moving, I almost bought some more corn just to grill so we could have it in our new (grillless apartment), but I’m hoping my grill pan will do a decent job.

If you have a Mexican grocery nearby, you can get the Tajin, cojita and crema there, otherwise substitute chile powder, crumbled feta and sour cream. I did use homemade mayo and crema, but it’s so good that that probably didn’t make much of a difference.

The Tajin seasoning is great and you’ll find lots of other uses for it. I might introduce it to some Fritos and see if I can replicate my favorite junk food from Mexico—Fritos with chili and lime. What do you put it on?

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Brussels Sprouts Hash

by Anne Maxfield on May 13, 2019

Brussels sprouts cut to make hashWe love Brussels sprouts and this looked like an easy way to make them. Slicing them for the “hash” is about the most time-consuming job here (and see below for my opinion as to whether it’s worth it), after that it’s about 5 minutes from start to finish. Serves 4 to 6:

Brussels Sprouts Hash

• 1 pound large Brussels sprouts
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
• 1/4 cup white wine
• Salt and pepper

Cut the stems from the Brussels sprouts and halve each one lengthwise. Slice each half into thin slices, about 1/8” and toss with the lemon juice in a large bowl.

Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan over high heat almost to the smoking point. Stir in the hashed sprouts with the garlic and poppy seeds.

Add the white wine and continue stirring for about 3 minutes, until the sprouts are bright green and barely crunchy. Reduce the heat to low, season with salt and pepper, and cook for 1 additional minute. Serve and enjoy!

The finished Brussels sprouts hash dish platedMy verdict: Good but not great. I might have liked it better with the Brussels sprouts halved and browned in the oil. It’s probably a really good dish for people who are on the fence about sprouts.
If shredding Brussels sprouts seems like a waste of time, shredding some cabbage and treating it like the sprouts would be a fine replacement.

Of all the spices I have, surprisingly poppy seeds are not in the house, so I used some of my favorite everything bagel spice, figuring that it had a lot of poppy seeds. Frank started to get huffy about it “do you ever see me eating an everything bagel?” but it was fairly innocuous and served it’s purpose.

No open bottles of white wine? A little chicken or vegetable stock, splash of red wine, or even water would work instead.

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Roasted Parsnips with Horseradish Cream

by Anne Maxfield on February 11, 2019

Accidental Locavore Parsnips With Horseradish CreamOne of the great things about a CSA is that you get to try food that might not be on your regular grocery list. Our winter CSA share has given us a bounty of stuff to play with, the most recent being a bunch of parsnips.

I pulled up a recipe from Deborah Madison’s Vegetable Literacy, for parsnips roasted and served with a horseradish cream, figuring that in my book, horseradish makes almost anything taste good.

Roasted Parsnips with Horseradish Cream

For the parsnips:

  • 1 ½ pounds parsnips
  • 4 teaspoons sunflower seed oil
  • Salt and pepper

For the horseradish cream:

  • 1 ounce horseradish root (about 2” depending on width)
  • 1 cup thick yogurt or sour cream
  • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
  • Salt

Accidental Locavore Parsnips for RoastingMake the parsnips:

Heat the oven to 400°.

Peel the parsnips and cut them into strips about 2 ½” long and ½” thick. Toss with the oil and season with plenty of salt and pepper.

Put them on a roasting sheet, or shallow pan, where they have plenty of room.

Roast, turning once or twice until browned and tender, about 35 minutes.

Serve with the horseradish cream on the side and enjoy!

Accidental Locavore Grated Horseradish for ParsnipsMake the horseradish cream:

Peel the horseradish and grate on the small holes of a grater. You’ll end up with about 1 cup of grated horseradish. In a small bowl, mix the horseradish, yogurt and vinegar until well combined. Taste and add salt as needed. Refrigerate until serving.

Accidental Locavore Horseradish Cream for ParsnipsMy verdict: The taste of the roasted parsnips was great! Much more interesting than their carrot cousins. The horseradish cream was good, nice and sharp, and while I liked it a lot, the parsnips could have stood on their own without it.

Next time I might try adding some spice mix, like za’atar  to the parsnips when I roast them and forgetting the horseradish (or saving it for a steak). What do you like to pair with parsnips?

 

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Braised Red Cabbage with Bacon

by Anne Maxfield on January 14, 2019

Accidental Locavore Red Cabbage SlicedWe’ve been lucky enough to get some beautiful red cabbage from our winter CSA share, and since it’s winter braising it seemed like the right way to go. This probably serves 4 as a side dish.

  • 4 slices bacon cut into ½” strips
  • 1 medium onion thinly sliced
  • 1 medium head red cabbage
  • 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
  • 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  • Salt and pepper

Accidental Locavore Braised Red CabbagePlace bacon in a large Dutch oven or other large, heavy-bottomed pot with a lid over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned and most of the fat has rendered.

While the bacon is cooking, slice cabbage in half lengthwise. Use a sharp knife to cut out the core and discard it. Slice both pieces in half again so you have 4 quarters, then thinly slice each piece crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick strips. Set aside.

When the bacon is cooked, add the onion and stir to coat in the bacon fat. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and cook until the onion softens and begins to brown, about 4 to 5 minutes.

Add the cabbage, stir to coat in bacon fat, and cook until the cabbage begins to wilt, about 4 minutes. Stir in the brown sugar and mustard.

Deglaze the pan with the cider vinegar, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan with a spatula. Add the chicken broth and season with a few pinches of salt and more freshly ground pepper. Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low and cover the pan.

Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage is soft and soupy and the bacon is tender, about 45 minutes. If the cabbage begins to look dry, add more broth or water. Serve and enjoy!

Accidental Locavore Red Cabbage With DuckMy verdict: I’ve made this twice recently and the last time was the best. Might have been because I used some homemade chicken broth, but it was silky smooth and delicious! It’s not a quick side dish, but it’s easy and worth the time.

If you have a dog, try chopping up the core of the cabbage and giving it to him/her. My dog loves it (and zero waste)!

My guess is that you could make it with almost any cabbage, but the cooking time might be shorter with a green cabbage. What do you think?

 

 

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