Side Dish Recipes
Twice-Baked Potatoes
When I was a young’un, twice-baked potatoes seemed SO FANCY. The kind of thing only rich people ate at their country clubs. I think that might be because around that time, the mid 80s, country clubs and rich people and fancy food were on my radar thanks to the movie Trading Places, which is an…
Read MoreFried Rice Recipe
Here is a basic fried rice recipe to jump off from and add whatever vegetable or meat bits you happen to have. Typical Chinese restaurant fried rice (in the US anyway) includes egg, peas, carrots and green onions. Slightly fancier restaurants may also include corn, celery, green beans, and even broccoli. Fried rice is an excellent…
Read MoreChojín – Guatemalan Radish Salad
Chojín is a Guatemalan salad made of radishes, mint and chicharrones (fried pork rinds). If that seems strange, just pretend they are bacon bits. It’s very much the same idea. Serve this as a first course in small salad bowls or as a side dish or as a topping for tostadas and tacos. You can…
Read MoreScalloped Potatoes
These are a classic side dish for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Our pals Matt and Charles in San Antonio requested a scalloped potatoes recipe from me; they said they could never get them quite right. I think the trick is to parboil the potato slices in the milk before baking. It’s an extra step, I know,…
Read MoreBroccoli Casserole
Cheesy broccoli casserole is so much better when you make your cheese sauce from scratch, amirite? Of course I’m right! This recipe is fantastic for Thanksgiving and other holidays that require beaucoup cooking because the cook time and temperature is flexible. Oven’s already preheated to 425? No big deal! Gotta reheat that pie at 350?…
Read MoreBrussels Sprouts Slaw
I had a pound or so of Brussels sprouts left over after making fried Brussels sprouts and thought I’d turn them into a Brussels sprouts slaw, which is one of my favorite kinds of salad. And when I say that, I wonder to myself what constitutes a slaw? Maybe the inclusion of cruciferous vegetables —…
Read MoreFried Brussels Sprouts
Inspired by the incredibly delicious but also impossibly complicated fried brussels sprouts at Uchiko, these are crispy, salty, sour, and sweet.
Read MorePeachy Beet Salad
Pardon the pun, but this salad IS peachy. Plus, it has peaches in it. And beets. And goat cheese and peach balsamic vinegar. And you can make it in like 5 minutes. All of that = peachy beet salad. Raw beets might seem like a weird thing to eat, but when they are really fresh,…
Read MoreSwiss Chard Salad
Some of you “old timers” may remember this salad from a newsletter sent out a couple of years back, when I was going through a divorce and living with my wonderful mom temporarily. Since my mom goes out a lot more than I do, I got pretty skilled at cooking dinner for myself (granted, that…
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