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Archive for the ‘Side Dishes’ Category
It took me awhile to recover from so many days off, but I have recipes again! LOL
Actually, I was quite busy this weekend – on top of grilling some filets from Chuck and smoking a free-range chicken we picked up at the farmer’s market, we pitted and froze five pounds of sweet cherries I found on sale for $.199/lb, made homemade chicken stock from a “soup chicken”- an old laying hen past her prime – and (believe it or not) made dog food for Scooter, using the meat from the old hen and a kidney from Chuck.
Yes, I guess we’ve gone off the deep end. I should have never read the ingredients on the bag of kibble we’ve been feeding him; it was simply appalling. I wouldn’t eat that stuff; why feed it to my furry, four-legged child?
At any rate, since we’ve got the grill/smoker cranked up full throttle for the summer, salads are still the order of the day. We’d picked up some lovely tomatoes and cucumbers at the farmer’s market this last weekend and have been trying to consume a seedless watermelon for several days (there’s only so much watermelon you can eat at any given meal, and I’ve been resisting the urge to pull the ice cream maker out and make a sorbet with it), so voilá! A Tomato, Watermelon and Cucumber salad.
Quick, easy, tasty, refreshing and oh-so-good for you, too. What more could you ask for?
Note: A mandolin will make quick work of the cucumber and onion.
Tomato, Watermelon and Cucumber Salad
Tomato, Watermelon and Cucumber Salad
4 to 6 servings
4 cups cubed watermelon
1 large, ripe tomato, chopped
1 large cucumber, sliced very thinly
1/2 large, sweet onion, sliced very thinly
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, minced
3 teaspoons sugar or Splenda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
freshly ground black pepper to taste
Combine the watermelon, tomato and cucumber in a large bowl; toss with the sugar or Splenda and salt. Let it stand for 15 minutes.
Stir in the onion, thyme, vinegar and olive oil. Cover and chill for 2 hours. Taste; season with pepper. Serve on lettuce leaves, if desired.
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Well, here it is, Monday again.
Oh, and I’ve lost 11.5 pounds in a little over a month. Just by changing the diet (I have yet to go down to the basement and confront the treadmill and Bowflex…don’t push me, it’s coming). Yay, me.
(Beloved has lost 12 pounds in like 3 weeks, but we won’t go there right now.)
Anyhoo. Monday. Boooooooooo. Well, that’s all right – we’re going to take a mini-vacation and leave town Wednesday afternoon to go to Wisconsin for Beloved’s family reunion, returning Sunday. We’ll be stopping overnight in Chicago on our way there – anyone know of any good restaurants in the downtown area?
Today’s recipe is easy and delicious – Pan Roasted Asparagus. We love asparagus and you can still find it relatively cheaply at the store and farmer’s markets. It is particularly good pan roasted in a hot, cast iron skillet, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with freshly ground black pepper, fleur de sel or kosher salt and a little freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
Nomilicious stuff.
Pan Roasted Asparagus
Pan Roasted Asparagus
serves 3 to 4
1 pound of fresh asparagus, trimmed, washed and well-dried
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese, optional
Heat a small, cast iron skillet over high heat until it is almost smoking. Add the asparagus to the dry skillet, stirring it occasionally, until it begins to brown but is still crisp. Remove the skillet from the heat, drizzle the olive oil over the asparagus, season with salt and pepper and sprinkle it with the cheese if desired. Serve immediately.
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I am tired today – even Tech Guy here at the office mentioned how tired I look. He’s a sweetheart, and as a Type II diabetic who struggles with his diet was quite sympathetic when I told him that although I’d tried very hard to eat right this weekend, we ate out so much that it knocked me all out of whack – Bob Evans and Cheesecake Factory don’t exactly do local and sustainable. I further botched things up last night; we stopped on a whim at our absolute favorite restaurant in Ohio. They do serve locally obtained, unprocessed food, but if you throw alcohol and dessert into the mix, well…
Cut me some slack – I’m paying for it this morning. (It sure was tasty, though.)
At any rate, I’m back on track today and will remain there until I’m seduced once again by the siren song of a four-star restaurant. Which doesn’t happen with any regularity, thank goodness.
So – pico de gallo. There’s some debate about the origins of the name, but it’s basically a fresh, uncooked salsa often served with Mexican dishes. It’s easy and delicious and has the added bonus of being extremely good for you, too. I don’t care much for cooked tomatoes, but I love them raw and this is one of my two favorite ways to eat them (I’ll get to the other way later in the summer when my own tomatoes ripen).
Note: Seed the jalapeños unless you like it really spicy.
Pico de Gallo
Pico de Gallo
makes 3 – 4 cups
2-3 medium sized fresh tomatoes, finely diced
1/2 red onion, finely diced
2 jalapeño peppers, finely diced
Juice of one lime
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste
Combine all of the ingredients except the salt and pepper in a medium sized bowl; taste and season. Let it sit, covered, for an hour or so at room temperature, to allow the flavors to combine.
Can be served as a condiment, side dish or as a dip with good quality tortilla chips.
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This weekend was a tad on the carby side for me. Not because of rich desserts or decadent cocktails. No, it was due entirely to this:
Sweet Corn
Yes, it is the extremely tasty evil Georgia sweet corn, and is entirely the fault of the guy at the farmer’s market who forced six ears on us Saturday morning, shortly before the guy at the meat market twisted our arms and made us buy 3 racks of baby back ribs. All of which we were then compelled to grill, then consume, later that evening, entirely against our will. And we won’t even go into the watermelon. *sobs*
It was a heartbreaking experience.
So we smoked a turkey breast and beef brisket on Sunday. And I felt the need to do something with the three ears of roasted corn we had leftover from our excess Saturday evening. Once I realized I had a bag of dried black beans in the pantry, this dish was on the menu. (You can, of course, make it with canned black beans.)
We ate it as a side with our brisket and turkey, but it would be marvelous served with good quality tortilla chips.
Roasted Corn and Black Bean Salsa
Black Bean Salsa
makes…a lot
4 cups (or two cans) black beans, drained and rinsed
3 ears roasted corn, kernels cut away (about 2 cups)
1 large tomato, chopped
1 to 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
1 cup red onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves, torn
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
salt and pepper to taste
Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Cover (and refrigerate if desired) for at least 1 hour to allow flavors to develop. Bring to room temperature and stir before serving.
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Work is kicking my behind again today, so another short and sweet recipe.
“Coleslaw” comes from the Dutch koolsla – literally “cabbage salad.” And a very good, easy salad it is, especially when made with bagged, shredded cabbage. You can shred your own cabbages and carrots, of course, but I’ve found that it’s not all that much more expensive to use the bagged stuff unless you are making a really, really large quantity. But I’ve included instructions for both, just to be on the safe side.
And the dressing? YUMMY.
Happy picnicing and barbecuing this summer, y’all.
Coleslaw
Coleslaw
Serves 6 – 8
One 16-oz. bag of shredded green and red cabbage with carrots OR
5 cups shredded green cabbage
1 cup shredded red cabbage
1 large carrot, shredded
1 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar or Splenda
1 teaspoon celery salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
Place the cabbages and carrots in a large bowl.
In a small mixing bowl, whisk the mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, sugar (or Splenda), celery salt and pepper together until well blended.
Pour the dressing over the cabbages and carrots, and toss until well mixed. Cover and refrigerate for an hour to allow the flavors to blend.
Printable version (requires Adobe Reader)