tag: sides

The gentleman’s been watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy while home sick with the flu. Consequently, I can’t call these potatoes. I must call them po-ta-toes.

Here’s another option for the quintessential side, if you don’t want to, you know, “boil ‘em, mash ‘em, stick ‘em in a stew.” Hasselback taters!

Potatoes get cut into thin slices, with just a bit of potato at the bottom holding them together. Then each slice gets a hug from from either side with butter or parmesan or garlic, then baked until the slices crisp up into delicate leaves. Excellent served with roasted chicken.

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Posted in: cooking, sides | Tags: baked potatoes, cooking, food, garlic, garlic potatoes, hasselback potatoes, parmesan, parmesan potatoes, potatoes, side dish, sides | 6 COMMENTS

I don’t know if you can tell, but I get really excited about food. It’s not just the end product, the delicious thing I get to put in my mouth that does so much more than just nourish my body. It’s the process, too, the learning and doing and standing in the kitchen, working with my hands, listening to things sizzle and pop, my glasses steaming up as I open the oven door.

I had some amazing kale and taleggio arancini during the kale party at Verjus a couple of weeks ago, and they were stellar. Perfectly prepared balls of rice and cheese and vegetal kale, deep-fried to a golden brown and served with a salty-sweet bacon compote. It’s a dish that makes sense — you know by reading the description that there’s no way that this could be bad, and chef Braden Perkins didn’t disappoint.

The plate cost €8, a steal for such high-caliber food. And yet, and still. There was something missing. I didn’t make it myself. Don’t get me wrong, I love dining out, and I know my skill in the kitchen can’t match a trained chef’s, but… but what? I guess I miss the challenge. How extremely clever I feel whenever a dish turns out just how I wanted it to. I wanted to be the one whipping out those perfect arancini with that sticky, perfectly paired sauce. So I came home and made some.

And yes, I felt extremely clever.

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Posted in: appetizers, cooking, party food, sides, snacks | Tags: appetizers, arancini, bacon, bacon compote, bacon jam, cooking, deep fried, food, fried, italian, oven-fried, rice, risotto, side dish, sides, snacks | 21 COMMENTS

We go through stunning amounts of hummus in this house. I don’t know how he got into the habit, but Tim eats the stuff with nearly every meal — for breakfast, with his eggs and toast. For afternoon snacks, with pieces of baguette. Sometimes as a side with dinner.

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Posted in: appetizers, cooking, party food, sides, Uncategorized | Tags: cayenne, chickpeas, dips, hummus, mediterranean food, paprika, sides, sweet potato, vegan, vegetarian | 4 COMMENTS

In college, my roommate Josh once had an epiphany about salads: “It’s not the salad. It’s the stuff. It’s the stuff that makes it good.”

(Clearly, I need a larger cutting board.)

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Posted in: cooking, salads, Uncategorized | Tags: balsamic, figs, greens, salad, sides, summer | 6 COMMENTS