Cooking On the Side » Side Dishes

Chestnut Stuffing

Kathy Strahs — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 05:32:32 +0000

Thanksgiving is almost here and I’ve got one more terrific recipe to submit for your consideration as you finalize your menu for the big feast: Chestnut Stuffing.This stuffing turned out to be even better than I’d hoped. I like a really homey, traditional, herby, moist-on-the-bottom-crispy-and-golden-on-top kind of stuffing and this recipe (from the back of a package of Melissa’s chestnuts) is exactly that. Plus chestnuts. And the chestnuts do really add to the dish – not just a crunchy texture but also a really subtle sweetness and earthiness.This Chestnut Stuffing is one of several new-to-me recipes I’m including along with some old favorites on this year’s Thanksgiving lineup in our house:

“The Perfect Bird” – Saveur

Chestnut Stuffing (recipe at the end of this post)

Mashed Potatoes with Crispy Shallots ~ Food & Wine

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon Maple Vinaigrette ~ PBS Food

Cranberry Sauce ~ Cooking On the Side

Yeast Rolls (soon to be posted on Cooking On the Side)

French Apple Pie ~ Cooking On the Side

Looks like I’ve got a busy few days ahead (and you know I’ll be loving every minute of it). Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

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About Cooking On the Side...

It’s the recipe collection I didn’t even realize I had – the one derived from the side of a bag of fresh vegetables, a box of sugar, a jar of mayonnaise. Cooking On the Side – as in on the side of food packaging – is all about “revealing” these on-the-package recipes, with photos of how they actually turn out, cooking notes and more descriptive directions than package space usually allows for. -- Kathy

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Creamed Spinach with Bacon

Kathy Strahs — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 19:33:53 +0000

Spinach doesn’t need cream or bacon to make it a good side dish. It’s fine on its own, simply steamed or sauteed with a little lemon. That’s how I typically make it.

But…

If you do happen to mix cream and bacon in with spinach – and maybe some aromatic onions and garlic too for extra savory flavor – well, you’re going to wind up with a pretty excellent side dish. This Creamed Spinach, inspired by a recipe I found on the side of a package of frozen spinach, isn’t the extra thick kind I’ve had at steakhouses in the past. Here the sauce is thinner – just the cream or milk alone absorbing into the spinach rather than a flour-thickened bechamel. It’s a little bit lighter without sacrificing flavor. That works for me!

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Slow Cooker Garlic Artichokes

Kathy Strahs — Fri, 27 May 2011 03:35:28 +0000

It came as a surprise to many of my friends that I had never cooked artichokes until a few weeks ago. Here in California artichokes are kind of a staple, like avocados. In fact, nearly all artichokes in the U.S. are grown in this state (I just learned that). However, my parents were raised in New York so we just never really got into them at our house when I was growing up (avocados too, for that matter).

So, yes, I’m new to cooking artichokes. For my first foray into preparing them I followed Elise’s guidance in this post on Simply Recipes and steamed them with garlic and lemon. It was so much easier than I’d imagined – I just trimmed all the little leaves with my kitchen shears, rinsed ‘em and steamed ‘em. I also love her suggestion of eating them with balsamic mayo, just the right sweet-acidic touch.

After successfully preparing them Elise’s way twice, I felt confident enough to venture out into another artichoke prep method: slow cooker. As with many slow cooker recipes, it’s a real no-fuss option. You just dress the artichokes in garlic, olive oil and balsamic vinegar and let them braise in white wine for four hours. The balsamic vinegar in this recipe actually brings out quite a bit of sweetness in the artichokes. The garlic, after slow cooking, also becomes sweet, like when it’s roasted. I’m kicking myself for waiting so long to try artichokes, but better late than never, right?!

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Balsamic Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

Kathy Strahs — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 04:21:33 +0000

I’ll try almost any recipe that has “balsamic” in the name. Balsamic vinegar is like this magical elixir that dials up the flavor of anything it touches. I’ll never forget the first time I tried strawberries with balsamic vinegar – how in the world did it make them so sweet? And, of course, you can’t beat the mouthwatering tang it brings to vinaigrettes and marinades.

It hadn’t occurred to me to try balsamic vinegar on potatoes until I saw the suggestion on a mesh bag of potatoes. I found some pretty colorful fingerlings at Whole Foods and thought the balsamic approach might be a great way to punch up the flavor of this otherwise rather waxy variety. Using vinegar also allowed me to cut back a little on the salt without sacrificing flavor.

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Zucchini with Walnuts & Chives

Kathy Strahs — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 03:36:48 +0000

Yes, it’s unofficially “Zucchini Week” on Cooking On the Side. The other day I brought you a sweet treat – Chocolate Chunk Zucchini Bread. Today we’ll step over to the savory side, with Zucchini with Walnuts & Chives.

Evidently when you plant zucchini in your garden it grows like crazy (you have to see the size of the one my friend Karen grew!), or so I’ve gathered from the many food blog posts I’ve read with suggestions for how to use it up. As you already know, I’m not much of a gardener. However, I’m pleased to report that I did manage to grow a plant this summer! Yes, those lovely little sprouts you see in the photo to the left actually germinated on my watch. My daughter received a little flower seed kit as a birthday party favor so I had to at least give it a try for her sake. Fortunately, it’s basically a Chia – it may have grown on its own whether I watered it or not. Still, I’m basking in some combination of pride and relief.

Even if you don’t have a garden that’s bursting with zucchini right now, the farmers in your area most likely do. I saved this Zucchini with Walnuts & Chives recipe, which I found inside a package of fresh chives, for just this occasion. It’s a super-easy, flavorful side dish, with a pleasant crunch from the bread crumbs and walnuts. Now’s the time of year to give it a try!

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Chilled Dill Carrot Salad

Kathy Strahs — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:15:00 +0000

Do unusual fruits or vegetables catch your eye in your produce section and leave you wondering what they’re like? For me, it’s been the multicolor carrots lately. Despite the fact that I’m not the biggest carrot fan in the world I couldn’t resist the opportunity to put those beautiful colors in a dish. I finally picked up a package to see if they had a recipe on the back and, sure enough, there was this simple-yet-flavorful and oh-so-pretty Chilled Dill Carrot Salad.

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Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Cinnamon Pecan Crunch

Kathy Strahs — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 07:26:11 +0000

Despite being almost two years old, my daughter still prefers her sweet potatoes in the form of baby food purées with nothing else added. I suspect this has as much to do with the appeal of the natural sweet potato flavor as it does with the entertainment value of practicing the transfer of bright-orange mush from jar to mouth with her new spoon-wielding skills. If you’ve ever tried sweet potatoes just on their own you know they’re naturally pretty sweet. But if you’ve ever tasted streusel topping you also know that it pretty much makes anything even better.

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Herb Stuffing Muffins

Kathy Strahs — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:01:38 +0000

When I mentioned to my mother that I was planning to make a traditional herb stuffing this weekend, she replied, “You should bake it in muffin tins!” She had just read an article in The New York Times in which the author was extremely pleased with the results of her efforts to concoct stuffing muffins that were crisp on the outside and steamy soft on the inside: “Imagine how good they must have been, then times it to the 10th power.” That was all the encouragement I needed to give it a try.

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Bacon, Sour Cream & Chive Mashed Potatoes

Kathy Strahs — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:32:58 +0000

I’ve struggled in the past to make mashed potatoes with the texture I really like – the really fluffy, smooth, creamy kind. Maybe I’d been using the wrong kind of potatoes or I wasn’t cooking the potatoes for long enough or I could have benefited from a tool like a potato ricer…but I think the real reason I wasn’t getting the result I wanted is that I was reluctant to use enough of a few key ingredients. Namely butter and cream.

Well, I’ve gotten past that now.

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Green Bean Casserole

Kathy Strahs — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:01:04 +0000

I previously said that it wouldn’t be Thanksgiving at my house without classic pumpkin pie. Well, I guess I’d also add Green Bean Casserole to that list. To be fair, is it the best vegetable side dish I’ve ever had? No, not really. But it’s loaded with tradition and nostalgia – and on Thanksgiving, that counts for a whole lot.

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