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Side Dishes

29
May 2014
Recipes Side Dishes

Keep It Simple, Smarty: Sesame Sugar Snap Peas

daeji bulgogi and sesame sugar snap peas Read recipe headlines or captions and you might think cooking has turned into a version of Name That Tune.  Take any dish, let’s say a salad in this case.  Can’t you just see it, opponents stand across from each other on a cardboard cut out game show set, sizing each other up, looking for tells. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly practically plays in the background. “Jim, I can make that salad in 7 ingredients,” says Contestant #1. “I can make it in 5,” replies Contestant #2. #1 rocks from left foot to right to left again.  “Uhhh, Jim, I can make it in 3.” Sensing uncertainty, #2 points, “Make that salad.” Alright, let’s do it. Easy peasy Sesame Sugar Snap Peas.
15
Oct 2013
Main Course Recipes Side Dishes

It’s All About the Butternut, Baby

ottolenghi jerusalem butternut onion2

One of the best things I've eaten in an airport was a roasted butternut and feta sandwich in Melbourne. Simple, earthy and salty all at the same time.  We're no strangers to the virtues of butternut squash around here, and in fact, my grinchiness about pumpkin this year has sent me straight into the arms of butternut squash.  Roasted, it makes great soup, salad, risotto, pasta, even pizza sauce.  Even with a good, sharp peeler, it may feel like prepping a butternut is taking your life into your own hands, but it's worth the effort.

22
Jul 2013
Book Reviews Recipes Side Dishes

Tasting Jerusalem: With Naama’s Fattoush, It’s All About the Details

naama's fattoush jerusalem| dailywaffle A couple of weeks ago on the Splendid Table, LA Times Food Editor Russ Parsons wrote, “The thing that's really great about this book is that he takes what might seem familiar and just throws a twist on it. When you cook it, it's an act of exploration because you're doing things that you know, the ingredients are fairly familiar, the techniques are fairly familiar, and then boom, there's this very new and exciting result that really makes you want to cook more into it.” He was talking about < Ottolenghi's Plenty, but he hit it on the head for Jerusalem,too.  It’s the twists that set these recipes apart.  And it's never more true than with Naama’s Fattoush, the marquee recipe for this month's salad theme for Tasting Jerusalem.
17
Jul 2013
Book Reviews Salads Side Dishes

Tasting Jerusalem: Not the Same Ol’ Cucumber Tomato Onion Salad

spiced chickpeas and fresh vegetables jerusalem |dailywaffle Greek salad is one of those of dishes about which it seems there’s nothing left to learn.  The cucumber-tomato-red onion combo is so common, even my regular ol' grocery store usually has a big bowl of it swimming in dressing in the deli department. While it's not exclusively Greek and appears in multiple countries across the Middle East and Mediterranean, the variations are usually minor, some include olives, feta cheese, red bell peppers, even a little romaine, maybe a little parsley, usually with a lemon or red wine vinaigrette. Eat one, and you’ve eaten them all, right? In the summer, Greek salad is a default around here, beating out even basic green. So for all those reasons, I was ready to skip right over the recipe for Spiced Chickpeas with Fresh Vegetables in Jerusalem. How could it possibly be anything special? Don’t make that mistake.
07
Jul 2013
Recipes Side Dishes

In Season: Hapa Kid Quick Pickles

How many times have you moved as an adult? Me, 11 times. It’s never fun, and it gets worse, the older you get. Once, early on when I moved from LA to the Bay Area, I shipped a bunch of stuff by mail. Moving by mail is not a great idea. Unless you want to buy all new stuff. Then finally there comes a time when there’s no more rounding up friends with promises of beer and pizza. You just bite the bullet and hire movers. After 11 moves, I can’t believe some of the things that have made the trek. I’ve been looking for a peach pit ring that my grandpa carved, at least that’s how I remember it. I'm convinced I have it somewhere. And I can’t find it.
01
Jul 2013
Main Course Pasta Recipes Salads Side Dishes

Grill Power: Halloumi & Grilled Vegetable Pasta Salad

mediterreanean grilled vegetable pasta salad | dailywaffle

Just a quick hit today as Canada is finishing its long weekend celebrating Canada Day and the US is gearing up for Independence Day. Like a lot of the West Coast we're in the midst of a heatwave, so stretching one night of cooking over a couple of meals sounds like a good plan to me.  Over the weekend, we fired up the grill and threw on some halloumi and vegetable skewers inspired by Joshua Bousel's version on Serious Eats a couple of weeks ago. We doubled up the skewers and had half the veg for dinner with the other half headed for this pasta salad the next day.
14
Jun 2013
Recipes Salads

Dinner for One: Cherry Arugula Salad

cherry arugula salad| dailywaffle

Today, it's been eight days since I’ve seen my husband.  I’ve eaten five dinners on my own, if granola and snack mix on the plane home from Austin count as “dinner.” Cooking what I like, only for myself, usually that’s totally liberating. I get to eat all the things I like and he doesn’t. I see myself leaning against the stove in a crisp white shirt (mmm, very practical), sleeves rolled up, stirring a pot with one hand, contemplating my day while leisurely sipping a glass of red wine.  Like in a movie.