Category — Side Dish Recipes

We’re experiencing record high temperatures here in the Bay Area, which makes me want to eat light, bright dinners like this broiled halibut with chermoula. Chermoula is a versatile North African condiment made with toasted spices, cilantro, and parsley, and it goes beautifully with fish.

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Ever since I made the incredible miso butter roast chicken from Use Real Butter, I have been trying to find as many other things as possible to slather with miso butter. In this recipe, I combined asparagus and Brussels sprouts and cooked them with a bit of wine, which gives the dish a tart note that offsets the butter and miso.

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Another day, another snack. This time I took sweet potato slices to the oven, seasoned with salt, thyme, and a vinegar tang. Fantastic!

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I am a big-time snacker. I love a salty snack with wine or cocktails before dinner, during that afternoon lull around 3 PM when I get sleepy and unmotivated, and late at night watching a movie. I can’t just sit around eating bags of chips all day, so I’m always on the lookout for new and interesting snack ideas that aren’t totally terrible for me. These crispy edamame, seasoned with parmesan and garlic and baked in the oven, are the latest snack craze in my house.

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Today is officially the first day of spring, and I couldn’t be happier. Seeing all the green, sprouting stuff in the market makes my taste buds tingle. I am excited to shake off the last of those hearty winter squashes and tubers and move on to all things verdant, fresh, and crunchy. Sugar snap peas top the list of my favorite springtime treats!

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I live in San Francisco, so it shouldn’t surprise you that I have a fair number of vegan friends. I used to dread coming up with a vegan meal that everyone would enjoy, but now I try to view it as a fun challenge and an opportunity to experiment with constraints I’m not used to. That’s how this pistachio parsley pesto was born–and to be honest, I don’t even miss the cheese. Plus, it’s fun to say “pistachio parsley pesto.”

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I love mashed potatoes in all forms. But I always feel vaguely guilty eating them, because the way I usually make them, they are loaded up with butter and fat and all kinds of delicious stuff – which is (obviously, duh) why they taste so great. With this recipe, they are a guilty pleasure no more.

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When I was growing up, my mom would often make carrots in the oven cooked with butter and dill. I loved them back then, but after experimenting over the years with different herbs, spices, and fats, the version I almost always make is this one: with olive oil, coarse salt, cumin, and just a hint of cinnamon. The natural sugars in the carrots caramelize and brown a bit in a hot oven, and the sweetness is balanced out by the spice and the salt.

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This blog has been on a serious sweet streak lately – and when I look back, I see I haven’t posted anything savory here since January! Let me get back in the good graces of those who love salt and butter more than sugar and chocolate with these delicious, flaky, buttery scones with cheddar and green onions.

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The other night, I got home from work around 5:15 and had dinner guests arriving at 5:30. I had this easy chicken dish planned, but very little in the way of side dishes. I knew I had some half bunches of produce here and there so thought I would quickly invent a salad on the fly based on what was laying around.

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