Corn is one of the quintessential summer foods. Although you can get corn year-round if you buy it frozen or canned, we think it tastes best fresh off the cob. It tastes even better if you can get it as freshly-picked as possible. Dan grew up with summers full of fresh (as in picked that morning) corn from a place called Barroner’s Farm in Pennsylvania, and it’s no coincidence that we almost always make a trip home to visit Dan’s mom during corn season (Hi Elaine!) Fresh corn conjures memories of childhood summers for me as well, since us kids used to spend a couple of weeks every summer with our grandparents in Ohio. After these visits, my parents were always happy to see us when they picked us up at the airport — no doubt they missed us, but I suspect that the big box of fresh corn coming off the baggage claim belt had something to do with their happy smiles as well. For years after moving to Texas, Dan wouldn’t even bother with the corn available here because it wasn’t as fresh as the corn from his childhood. But as his grilling repertoire has grown, he discovered a way to cook corn that, while not quite as good as fresh-picked, is still delicious and tastes like summer.
Category: Side Dishes
Hot and Sour Coleslaw
Dan recently decided he wanted to make homemade coleslaw, which to me just seemed like a lot of work for minimal return on the effort. Why go to all that trouble chopping everything and mixing up a dressing when you can just buy a tub of coleslaw at the grocery store? Coleslaw is coleslaw, right? Lucky for you, I was wrong (which Dan loves to hear me say — probably because it doesn’t happen very often), and he was right (I say this even less often.) He found this recipe on Epicurious, and not only is it quick and easy, but it tastes way better than store-bought coleslaw. This is a great side dish to serve at backyard BBQs or parties this upcoming holiday weekend.
Spicy Green Beans
We have several Asian dishes that we like to cook at home, and accordingly, we have more than a few cookbooks that focus on Asian food. I found this side dish recipe in one of our books — “Wok and Stir-Fry: A Collection of Easy and Elegant Recipes.” Unfortunately, I can’t seem to find the book on Amazon; sorry, no link. I purchased the cookbook at HomeGoods a while ago for the low low price of $5.99. (Kitchen Shopping Tip: HomeGoods and stores like it — TJ Maxx, Ross, Marshalls, etc. — can be great sources for interesting (and possibly out of print) cookbooks on the cheap.) It’s a good book and we look forward to trying more recipes from it. The ingredients for this green bean recipe are simple: green beans, vegetable oil, dried chiles, garlic, ginger, and the white part of green onions.
Baked Beans
Homemade baked beans take a long time to prepare. A really, really long time. Sure, you could always opt for the canned baked beans available at the grocery store, but the homemade variety have a lot more flavor, and you have the satisfaction of making them from scratch (or so Dan tells me.) Because we had already set aside a Major Block of Cooking Time this recent Memorial Day for smoking BBQ ribs, we decided to make a batch of baked beans as well. The extra cooking time was well worth it. We might not reach the same conclusion in a blind taste test, but we thought the homemade beans tasted way better than any of the canned versions we’ve tried. (You may borrow the blind taste test idea as a party trick for your next cookout. You’re welcome.) Continue reading “Baked Beans”
BBQ Chicken Salad (with leftover chicken)
This recipe is one of our favorite uses of leftover chicken, especially for lunch. It doesn’t necessarily sound like it would be as good as it is (nor does it photograph particularly well), but it’s a tangy and creative twist on the typical mayo-based chicken salad. And it has a chipotle pepper in it, which adds a nice smoky / spicy flavor. In addition to being delicious, it is really easy to make with just a few ingredients.
Continue reading “BBQ Chicken Salad (with leftover chicken)”
Black Bean and Tomato Quinoa
I’ve mentioned before that I’m always on the hunt for good side dishes that are different than our usual rice, potatoes or pasta (not that there’s anything wrong with those.) When looking for something to go with a fish dish, I found a couple of recipes using quinoa, a whole grain that we had never previously cooked, eaten or even knew existed. If you’ve never had it before either, it’s actually pronounced “keen-wa,” not “kin-o-ah,” something I did not discover until I saw the helpful pronunciation on the package and had repeatedly mis-pronounced it. We combined elements from several recipes and ended up with a pretty interesting side dish (don’t you hate it when people describe food as “interesting” — what does that mean? Good? Terrible? “Interesting” could describe either one.)
Panzanella (Eggplant, Tomato & Bread Salad)
Sometimes I think that side dishes are the bane of my existence. Sometimes, I’m also a little overly dramatic. But I do find that we get bored with the same old side dishes, and I’m often looking for new and different recipes to accompany our protein main courses. This side is one of my most successful discoveries yet. The ingredients are really simple — grilled eggplant and bread, combined with tomatoes and basil — all dressed with a nice balsamic vinaigrette. The result tastes like something you would maybe have for lunch with a nice glass of vino bianco at a quaint trattoria off the square of a little town in Italy (except it would be better there because everything is Better In Italy.)
Continue reading “Panzanella (Eggplant, Tomato & Bread Salad)”
Hasselback Potatoes
As self-described foodies, we spend a lot of time looking for interesting recipes and different ways of cooking food. Dan recently came across a photo of “Hasselback Potatoes” and was immediately intrigued. We’d never seen or heard of this type of potato dish before, but liked how they looked and decided to research some recipes. We were surprised to discover how easy they are to make, considering how complicated and fancy they appear. And they taste as good as they look — sort of like gourmet home-fries.
Tuna Salad
This is not your typical tuna salad. The difference that sets this tuna apart (in our opinion) is the addition of lime and horseradish. And there are no pickles in this dish, which is one of the main ingredients we think of when we think tuna salad. Not that we think about or make tuna salad all that often, but when we do, we like to use this recipe from Cook’s Illustrated’s American Classics cookbook. The ingredients are simple: solid white tuna (packed in water), lime juice and lime zest, prepared horseradish, red onion, fresh parsley, salt and pepper, mayonnaise and Dijon mustard. Simple but tasty.
Grilled Potato Salad with Watercress, Green Onions and Blue Cheese Vinaigrette
We don’t cook burgers at home all that often (not sure why — maybe because we don’t eat a lot of red meat, so when we do, we prefer to have steak.) But Spring is definitely in the air around here, which means the daylight lasts a little longer and we’re even more inclined to cook on the grill (not that darkness has ever stopped Dan from grilling. Or snow, wind, or rain for that matter), and we were in the mood for burgers. Dan asked me to find an interesting side dish, so I consulted one of our Bobby Flay grilling cookbooks. Whether you’re a fan of Mr. Flay or not (we are), he has created some of the widest varieties of side dishes in any grilling cookbook I’ve seen. It didn’t take long for me to choose this Grilled Potato Salad as the perfect accompaniment to our cheeseburgers. It sounds a little strange to have the “salad” (as in greens) part in the same dish as the potatoes, but the dressing really ties it all together and it works very well.
Continue reading “Grilled Potato Salad with Watercress, Green Onions and Blue Cheese Vinaigrette”