Side dish – Page 7 – Rosemary and the Goat

Potato Dominoes

These dominoes have no spots.

My first attempt I fanned out the potato dominoes and I used sweet and white potatoes.

Recently I was looking at a blog that I subscribe to (www.food52.com) and saw a recipe for Francis Mallmann’s Potato Dominos. Such a cute presentation and I knew I wanted to try something different with the recipe; maybe layering sweet potatoes and russet potatoes together for beautiful fanned out potatoes. Throw in some fresh rosemary and a bay leaf here and there and you have a new potato dish.

I don’t always change a recipe; normally I do make it as directed the first time out but for some reason this time I wanted to change it up a bit. If you Google Francis Mallmann you will find that he is one of the most famous chefs in South America and a leading expert on cooking with fire. Here’s a really good article on the chef that you may find an interesting read. His potato dominoes recipe is in his book “Seven Fires: Grilling the Argentine Way”.

You may think this recipe is a total waste of potatoes but look at the end results! And you can always refrigerate the scraps of potatoes in a bowl of water and either cook and mash, throw in the oven to roast or put in a pot of stew. I have a mandoline so I opted for slicing these potatoes with it rather than by hand. If you don’t have a mandolin then just use your knife skills to slice the potatoes into about 1/8″ or less slices. You don’t put these potatoes in water as you slice them because the starch in the potatoes will help keep them stuck together and they won’t be sliding all over the place.

If you do an Internet search you will find several ways people have baked off this recipe. One used an iron griddle pan, another put out on Silpat on cookie sheet and another person stood the potatoes up in a dish in a circular presentation. I opted to do mine the first time on a iron griddle pan. Then I did them the second time only using white potatoes and

I stood them up then tilted them over like they had fallen like dominoes. I like this way the best. Continue Reading…

April 3, 2013 By Sherry

Side dish

Mexican Rice with Cheese

Rice with a bite!

I love reading blogs and what I love even more is when people read mine and when they leave a comment, then that just makes my day.

Recently I received two request. One was from someone who wanted to feature one of my recipes (Rosemary and Blue Cheese Wafers) in Food Loves Beer Magazine (great), and the other was from Red Gold Tomatoes company wanting to send me some products to sample.

Wow, this is always exciting for me to receive a product to try out. My first thought was to try out the tomatoes with green chiles and my mothers, Mexican Rice recipe. This recipes makes an appearance at almost every bar-b-q we do. Easy and pretty health since I always use brown rice.

I was so surprised when I opened the can of tomatoes; the can was packed full of tomatoes and chiles. Store brand tomatoes with green chiles seem to have more juice than actual tomatoes and chiles; not with this brand. Now I can’t wait to try their other products.

January 21, 2013 By Sherry

Side dish

Fried Green Tomatoes with Black Eyed Pea Vinaigrette

Another Black Eyed Pea for the New Year recipe!

Not taking any chances this year. I had my black eyed peas, cooked cabbage and fried pork belly (in place of hog jowl). Cabbage for “green money”, black eyed peas for good luck, and pork belly for wealth and prosperity. So I should be covered for the year.

I ate fried green tomatoes long before the movie “Fried Green Tomatoes” got people wondering why someone would want to fry a green tomato instead of waiting for it to ripen to a juicy acidy tomato good enough to go on a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich.

My mother use to make the best fried green tomatoes and I think her method was just to dip them in cornmeal. Over the years I have experimented with lots of recipes; sometimes using self rising flour, sometimes, plain, sometimes cornmeal and now mixing the flour and the cornmeal. Instead of just eggs like I did the Fried Green Tomatoes with Romalade Sauce, I’m mixing an egg with buttermilk and a few dashes of hot pepper sauce; Tabasco, Louisiana, any type will do and you can add as much as you want.

I’m sure everyone has had a black eyed pea salad before and my feelings are black eyed peas are good whether they are served hot or cold. This recipe happens to be a Black Eyed Pea Vinaigrette, sounds like a black eyed pea salad to me but I’m calling it a Vinaigrette. Fried Green Tomatoes with Black Eyed Pea Vinaigrette sounds a lot better than take a fried green tomatoes and throw some black eyed pea salad on top. So, since I’m typing this I guess I can name it whatever I want.

January 13, 2013 By Sherry

Side dish

Julienned Veggies (with tuna)

A delightful accident.

(I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and looking forward to the new year.)

I have to say this recipe was an accident. We went to one last movie before the second knee surgery back in October. Usually we are so full of popcorn when we leave we really don’t want to eat dinner. Earlier that day I found one abandoned tuna steak that had been in my freezer for awhile and decided to thaw and grill it after returning home.

Trying to come up with a side dish that would be quick, I found a few veggies that were just begging to be cooked. I started with two small zucchinis and used my handy little julienne tool and made long pieces of beautiful zucchini. Next I found some green cabbage and sliced it just as thinly as I possibly could, and red and yellow bell peppers came next along with a little sesame oil, sesame seeds and last to dive into the pan were a few halved cherry tomatoes.

To my surprise it was delicious. The tuna just had a quick marinade and grilled 2 minutes on each side. I may have rushed the last 2 minutes a bit. Also had some sweet soy glaze in the refrig so the tuna had a few drizzles of that.

This recipe just goes to show you that you can make a wonderful little side dish with just about anything you can find in your refrigerator. I always say, if I can do it, you can do it!

December 26, 2012 By Sherry

Side dish

Potato and Poblano Gratin

Scalloped Potatoes with a kick.

I love watching cooking shows; I have said that many times, and sometimes I actually try a recipe as it is written.

In this case, as I watched Marcela Valladolid from Mexican Made Easy, on the Food Network, make her potato dish, I was thinking about how could I change the recipe. This was a pre-Thanksgiving show I guess from last year. By the time she had the cheese on top and the cream poured all over the dish, I was thinking to myself, why mess with something that already sounds delicious. I may tweak it later but for now, the recipe is as she wrote it.

Instead of doing mine in one big casserole I made two; one for tonight and one to go in the freezer to eat after I have knee surgery again. (Already used it and it was as good as the first time around.) Today I bought the cutest little scalloped baker from Sur la Table and also a little bronze rack it sets in. It’s just big enough for a casserole dish for 6 people or even a double/triple recipe of some type of hot appetizer.

One would think that after 20 years of catering and buying cute little dishes that I would have enough to last me a life time. I couldn’t resist this one though, and it comes in the gold, red, green and white.

So, I’m not messing with this recipe. You can change it however you want, but to me it was delicious as is.

Tip for corn: I saw this in Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc cookbook. Ya know how those corn silks that are left in with the cut corn bother you. Well, TK suggest having a bowl of water and then you take your hand and stir through the corn. The silks will stick to your hand and then you dip your hand in the bowl of water and they wash away; then keep doing that until all the silks are removed. I can’t wait to try this method of eliminating those pesty stringy things from the corn.

BLAST FROM THE PAST: Parmesan Shrimp Toast — One of my favorite catered items and just in time for your fall /holiday parties.

November 9, 2012 By Sherry

Entree/ Pasta/ Side dish

Pasta with Purple Cauliflower and Walnut Cream Sauce

What a beautiful dish and my favorite color — purple.

Purple is absolutely my favorite color; throw in some lime green and you have the colors of our wedding 43 years ago and I still love those colors. Throw in a little pink and a whole lot of black and that’s the color of my closet. Hey, and it looks like purple is suppose to be a HOT color for fall. At least, my color is in style even though my clothes are not.

I was thumbing through some of my old food magazines the other day and saw a recipe for cauliflower and carrot pickles. Now, I can’t say that made me want to jump up and go buy some purple cauliflower to pickle but I did want to try to come up with a dish using this beautiful purple vegetable. I almost made this purple cauliflower and carrot dish but decided it was too boring because all I was going to do was steam the vegetables, mix them together and throw in some toasted sunflower seeds. Then I decided that a pasta dish would be perfect for fall and a walnut cream sauce with Rosemary, sage, and thyme just the thing to hold it together.

So when I saw this purple cauliflower at the market the other day I had to buy it. This purple wasn’t going to hang in my closet, it was going to be eaten. I have always thought of cauliflower as a boring vegetable; but since making my Cauliflower Mash with Kale and this recipe, I have changed my views on this beautiful versatile vegetable which can be steamed, mashed, roasted with some olive oil, fried and served raw in a salad. What more could you ask for in a vegetable.

October 31, 2012 By Sherry

Side dish

Red Chard and Pine-nuts

Red and green delicious.

Hobbling around the farmer’s market one weekend a few months ago I came upon this table piled full of beautiful kale, chard, and mustard greens. My first thought was of the Swiss Chard I had seen in France back in the Spring and how after returning home I prepared it for the first time and loved it. I think every time I eat chard I will think of the markets of France and how we could just go steps out our apartment and buy anything we wanted for the evening meal.

I was really hoping to find some rainbow chard but this was going to have to do and it turned out great.

Why have I never tried cooking or even eating chard or for that matter, turnip greens, kale or any of those other unusual (to me) large leafy green vegetables. It wasn’t because I didn’t grow up with seeing my mother and grandmother do them all. I guess back then I turned my nose up at a lot of things that I now enjoy.

Next time you are in the market and pushing that basket around trying to come up with something new to prepare for dinner remember this CHARD and give it a try.

October 23, 2012 By Sherry

Side dish/ Vegetables

Parsley Fingerling Potatoes

How about an all vegetable dinner?

My kids were never big vegetable fans; fried okra, mashed potatoes, green beans were about the only vegetables they would touch. Potatoes were on the table for many dinners; whether they were French fries, American pan fries, mashed, baked, or these stewed potatoes (I made this recipe with fingerling potatoes); I knew they would be eaten.

How things have changed now that they have families of their own. They love (one son) growing their own vegetables, shopping the farmer’s markets for the freshest of everything and even joining a vegetable co-op (Johnson’s Backyard Gardens) where a basket of fresh vegetables is delivered to your doorstep once a month. In the last few years I have added new vegetables like baby bok choy, Swiss chard, and kale to my vegetable repertoire. I’m sure there are a few vegetables out there I have never tried and I am game to try anything new.

I have mentioned in a previous post how my mother use to make what we called stewed potatoes and how she would add the last bits of cornbread batter clinging from the mixing bowl to the potato liquid of cooked cubed potatoes. This would thicken the water and make almost a sauce like liquid around the potatoes. Add a little parsley, butter and salt and pepper and yum, yum, yum.

I decided to have a meatless meal (which we don’t do often) after finding all these other veggies in my refrigerator. So, how does cooked Yellow Squash and Friends, red chard with pine nuts and these cute little fingerling potatoes sound to you? (Those other recipes coming soon.)

October 15, 2012 By Sherry

Side dish

Yellow Squash & Friends

Summer is over but summer squash is still around.

I love yellow squash but my husband is not a fan of that little crooked yellow vegetable. Even though he voices his opinion about certain things I may be experimenting with, he’s a really good sport about trying everything I make.

I was a our farmer’s market a few weeks ago. I am disappointed that I missed this market all summer long, but at least I got there before it was gone for the year and bought some wonderful looking yellow squash, some beautiful okra (no brown spots at all) and some artisan bread. Don’t know why I bought the bread because I love bread baking and this bread was pretty hard by the next day and met an untimely death — trashed.

As usual, I started searching the Internet for squash recipes and came up with some great ideas. This dish has a lot of friends joining the recipe. I still had some of the okra left over after using some in my Confetti Maux Choux and had some of those great little sweet grape tomatoes an some mini bell peppers so I decided to do a really quick, hot saute of vegetables, top with some Panko bread crumbs and a little cheese and finish in the oven for a quick melt/brown.

October 11, 2012 By Sherry

Side dish

Stephanie’s Magic Beans

These beans must have come from Jack’s beanstalk.

So, we were visiting Chicago and our newest grandson a few months ago. I have mentioned before what wonderful restaurants there are in the city. We have been trying to get reservations at The Girl and the Goat for almost a year now. Every time we are there, I call only to find out that there are no tables available.

The Girl and the Goat is owned by Stephanie Izard, Top Chef winner of Fourth Season. She now has her own restaurant. To make a long story short when I was googling around, I found everyone mentioning her Magic Beans that are served in the restaurant. Lo and behold there’s a recipe staring me in the face from Rosie O’Donnell’s show and there is Stephanie, in person, looking at me and asking me personally to come to her restaurant; and I’m thinking “if you want me there, why can I never get a table”. Well, it wasn’t quite like that but she was making the recipe for her magic green beans with an aioli drizzled over the top.

So what am I to do but rush out to the nearest store, get all the ingredients and make them for dinner to go with our steel-head trout — I did and they were just as wonderful as everyone said. I don’t think my green beans were as fresh as they could have been and the next time I would use haricot vert (tiny French green beans) or at least make sure my green beans were as fresh as they could possibly be.

October 7, 2012 By Sherry

Side dish/ Vegetables

Asparagus Squared

Asparagus Salad Squared and I’m not even good at math.

I watch a lot of tv I have to admit, but most of it is food related shows (almost). I perched myself in front of the TV nursing sore knees while in Chicago a few months ago (before knee surgery). We were watching “Check Please” on PBS where they have three people on a panel and they recommend their favorite restaurants; and then the others on the panel go to the restaurant and check it out themselves. Now that is a job I could do and not even get paid to do it.

So, this one guest’s restaurant was the Pasta D’Arte. I’m not even sure what this group of people sampled from the restaurant but after looking at the restaurant’s website I found a salad that was so interesting looking I just had to try and make it. Only thing is that you really need small asparagus because each salad takes 8 spears and that’s a lot of asparagus for anyone to eat even if you love asparagus.

I’m probably the only person alive that likes canned asparagus. Of course, I would take fresh over canned anytime but there’s just something about the soft mushy asparagus that comes in a can that makes me think of a cheesy asparagus casserole my sister and I use to make when we were both newly weds. But, this recipe would only look beautiful made with fresh thin asparagus.

September 24, 2012 By Sherry

Side dish

Confetti Maux Choux

Beautiful confetti colors.

Love the okra in this dish.

When it comes to corn my mother’s was always the best. We had fried corn which some might call cream style corn but it was nothing like the canned variety of sweet, runny corn that you might buy to put in a Mexican corn bread recipe and our corn certainly was not sweet.

I never care for some of the corn you buy in the store that is called super sweet. Who wants corn that taste like dessert. I want corn that taste like what I grew up on. Our fried corn always started with big ears of field corn and we would barely cut off the tops of the corn with a knife and then use the blade to scrape down the cob releasing all the milky creaminess that was left behind on the cob, all the while splattering all over yor hands and the counter. It was well worth the mess because after frying up a few pieces of bacon the corn would be added to the fat in the skillet (cast iron of course) and cooked until it was reduced to a thick corn dish which only needed a little salt and pepper.

Several years ago a neighbor of mine was sitting out in her front yard shucking corn. I asked her what she was making with so much corn and she replied Maux Choux and when she described the technique I knew it sound like like our Southern fried corn but with a Louisiana twist. I have been wanting to try Maux Choux for years but just never got around to it.

September 20, 2012 By Sherry

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