Petits Pois à La Française (Baby Green Peas)

This is another “traditional” side dish that appears to have infinite variations on the absolutely correct way to prepare it; of course to me that’s just a challenge!  I have had this, “in the French way” or “à La Française”, made with Pearl Onions. And I’ve had it with Scallions, and with and without Carrots and with a variety of lettuce types not to mention with frozen and fresh peas. With the exception of the frozen peas, any of these alternatives could have been in the original dish.

Cut Green Beans without the Can

Who doesn’t remember a dish of “cut green beans” fresh from the can and heated up in their own “juice.”  The color, while a pretty shade of green is more likely to be found in a box of crayons instead of in nature and I’m pretty certain that the metallic taste doesn’t come from being loaded with vitamins and minerals. Since fresh green beans are available at your grocer all the year ‘round, you should never need to buy them in a can, again.

Lemon Tarragon Wild Rice

While white rice is the fully milled version of brown rice (the germ and bran is removed), Wild Rice, although a distant relative, is still rice nonetheless. Like its cousins, Wild Rice needs to be cooked correctly to avoid becoming starchy mush. The simple cooking method used here, in which you drain away any unabsorbed water, is key to producing a firm result.

Frijoles Refritos (Refried Beans)

Unfortunately, beans are not everyone’s favorite food. Then to add insult to injury, we have to name a perfectly good bean dish “Refried Beans”! The problem exists because there just isn’t a one or two word English translation of the concept behind “Frijoles Refritos.”

Oven Caramelized Jerusalem Artichokes

Jerusalem Artichokes are neither from Jerusalem, nor are they Artichokes... discuss! (With a nod to Coffee Talk, Mike Myers as Linda Richman and SNL.) The Jerusalem Artichoke, aka Sunchoke, Sunroot or Earth Apple, most likely got the Jerusalem part of its name from Girasole [gi-ra-só-le], the Italian word for Sunflower. The Artichoke part of the name, however probably comes from its similar taste to the not yet bloomed thistle we know as a Globe Artichoke.

Sautéed Savoy Cabbage

Cabbage. We like to stuff it, make salads with it and add it to soups and all sorts of other foods. While it works perfectly well as an added ingredient, cabbage is seriously overlooked as a side dish by itself. When it does appear by itself, it is usually still in a supporting role consigned to be boiled along with the rest of the “starring role” vegetables.

Stovetop Roasted Root Vegetables

Roasting is a dry method that surrounds the food with heat for even cooking. The results of roasting are a beautifully caramelized surface with a tender interior. An oven is the ideal place for all this to occur, but sometimes my oven is otherwise occupied and I have to look elsewhere to provide similar outcomes.

Roasted Artichokes with Red Pepper Aioli

Artichokes have been bestowed with a wrapping of elegance for far too long. Even Julia Child, in 1995, referred to the Artichoke as a “luxury” (The Way To Cook by Julia Child). But now Artichokes are readily available at almost any time of the year and it’s time for them to shed that mantle of uppity-ness and assume their rightful position as the king... of finger food!  Let’s face it; there are no utensils better designed than your fingers with which to eat an Artichoke.

Sesame Fire Noodles

I would imagine, throughout my lifetime, I’ve tasted about 11,937 noodle based dishes. This includes salads, casseroles, mac & cheeses, soups and of course pastas from picnics, bar-b-cues, church basement pot-lucks, receptions, buffets, dinners at home and elsewhere, travels here and abroad and of course college dorm days. (Although I have not included the tally from a couple of years of roaming the Italian North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco which is more or less kind of a blur.)

Fierce Garlic Prawns with Red Pepper Aioli

True Prawns have a few subtle variances that distinguish them from jumbo shrimp – different gills, more pincers and longer legs. But for our purposes here, i.e. eating good food, those differences are really moot because we’re going for big.

Sweet and Crunchy Sautéed Haricots Verts

Haricots Verts are thin, mostly straight, French Green Beans. Not to be confused with the French cut Green Bean. The French Cut is done to make the thicker Green Bean resemble the slimmer Haricot Vert.

Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage

We don’t eat enough purple food! Just seeing this side dish is enough to make you smile – it’s just so… so purple! This isn’t a kind of Kraut, sour or otherwise. Of course you could make Sour Kraut with Red Cabbage, but then it would be Red Sour Kraut. While Kraut has a snap or least a bit of a crunch, all of the vegetables and fruit in this dish are just barely recognizable. I like to layer flavors here; just pay attention to any cooking show on television – it’s a big deal, and really works to add dimension to foods, but there’s no layering here. All of the individual ingredients have given up their distinctive tastes for the good of the dish.

Houskove Knedliky (Bohemian Dumplings)

This is a traditional accompaniment to Roast Pork served every day at most Czechoslovakian restaurants in Chicago. Frankly, the quality of the dumpling is how we determine whether or not we’ll be returning to the restaurant! 

They’re not fluffy like the dumplings Grandma made in her Chicken & Dumplings, but they’re not like Spaetzel, those little chunks of Bavarian dough noodles. In fact, when you see these for the first time your impression will likely be that someone put slices of bread and gravy on your plate.

No Holds Barred Mac ‘n’ Cheeses

We all know that Macaroni and Cheese is traditionally made with Elbow shaped pasta, but when you order it at your favorite gastro-pub it’s probably made with some other more trendy shape. There’s nothing really wrong with that, but don’t you secretly wish for at least some nod to convention? They, and we here, have already presented you with a dish as far removed from the little blue box of neon yellow cheesiness as can be. But why eradicate the last semblance of comfort from this, the quintessential comfort food?

Let’s stand up and demand our Elbow Macaroni, but no tantrums please and do remember to keep your elbows off the table!

Fluffy, Lumpy Mashed Potatoes

Remember your Grandmother’s mashed potatoes? Those stiff peaks of potato-ey goodness with a dollop of butter melting in the crater on top! Then came Mom’s whipped potatoes… just shy of the wallpaper paste that nestled in the tinfoil corner of a TV dinner. What happened between those two generations? Convenience food happened, electric mixers happened! Love ya Mom, but whipped potatoes? No thanks!

Fresh Cranberry Sauce

This is a really simple recipe that goes exceptionally well with any dish, especially beef, pork and of course roast turkey that will add a special sweet/tart note to your meal. You can add grated orange rind and juice and chopped walnuts to make a cranberry relish that is really delicious.

Polenta with Toasted Pine Nuts

Polenta is becoming the new mashed potato in many kitchens today. Many people are shunning potatoes because of the carbohydrates and fats, and for those who cannot eat wheat and have eliminated pasta, Polenta may be the perfect substitute starch.

Sautéed Kale

Kale or borecole is in the cabbage family with green or purple leaves and is one of the healthiest vegetables on Earth! Kale’s health benefits are directly attributed to the high concentration of antioxidant vitamins A, C, and K as well as sulphur-containing phytonutrients.

Besides being incredibly healthy for you, it is also a delicious side dish vegetable that you are sure to like after trying this recipe!

Red Beans and Rice

Nothing says Monday in New Orleans like Red Beans & Rice. This traditional staple started as a dish to use up Sunday’s leftover ham bone that didn’t take watching and could cook unattended for the better part of a day while the washing was done. Well, Monday may not necessarily be “wash day” anymore, but it does mean the weekend is behind us and it’s time to get down working again. So what better way to start the week than a smoky, spicy, plate of goodness from The Big Easy!

Awesome Sautéed Brussels Sprouts

 
Brussels Sprouts have had a nasty reputation for all long as I can remember. Kids (and many adults), will turn up their noses just hearing the words. The Pancetta and Chicken Stock are the special ingredients that make this vegetable side exceptional and will have them asking for seconds!