Posts Tagged ‘ side dish ’

tamarind glazed sweet potatoes

golden orange color.. sweet and tangy potatoes

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 tablespoons oil
  • 2 tablespoons margarine
  • 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon tamarind pulp
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 sweet potato, peeled and sliced into 3/4-inch thick rounds
  • Pinch of salt

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.In a small pot, melt the margarine with the garlic and the tamarind pulp over low heat.
Stir and cook for 2 minutes. Sprinkle the brown sugar, and cook for an additional 1 to 2 minutes, stir and remove from the heat.

Toss the sweet potatoes in 1 tablespoon oil, and season with salt, to taste. Bake the sweet potato slices in a baking dish until soft. When soft, spoon the tamarind mixture over the sweet potatoes. Place the potatoes back into the oven for about 10 more minutes, or until they are tender and cooked through.

They come out soft, sweet and slightlyy tangy.  🙂

very light side dish

2011
05/20
CATEGORY
Passover Recipes
Side Dishes
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Almond Smashed Potatoes

smashed potato with crunchy almond topping

So I made these smashed potatoes today as a side dish but I completely forgot to take a picture until the very last bite. I really liked them, and they were relatively easy to prepare. They are so flavorful, and the crunchy almond topping really makes them special. Originally, the recipe called for roasted soy nuts. But I didn’t have soy nuts on hand so I substituted with almonds.

The difference between mashed potatoes and smashed potatoes is that mashed potatoes have a more or less smooth texture, but smashed potatoes are only smashed lightly to break up the potatoes. Smashed potatoes still keep their shape. 🙂

Sidenote: This lousy picture really doesn’t do this side dish justice. It is so delicious. 

Ingredients

  • 1 shallot, finely chopped — or substitute 1/4 onion finely chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 1/2 tablespoon finely chopped fresh ginger
  • 1 cup crushed almonds, slightly ground in a blender
  • 1/4 cup oil
  • Kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon powdered ginger
  • 1 pound baby potatoes (they come in small 1 pound bags- about 25 potatoes in a bag I think)
For the toasted almond nut mix:
In a saute pan, heat the vegetable oil over medium heat. Add the shallot and lightly brown, stirring constantly. Add the garlic and ginger, and lightly brown, ensuring they do not burn.

Add the crushed almonds and lightly toast for 3 minutes. Remove the mixture from the heat, and season with salt and pepper, to taste. If you don’t like the flavor of raw parsley, add the parsley now, while the mixture is still hot.

To make Almond Smashed Potatoes:
Hard boil the potatoes in Heavily salted water with 1bsp powdered ginger, and cook until the skins split. If the skins don’t split, poke the potatoes with a knife and let boil some more. Drain the potatoes and place in a small bowl. Lightly smash each potato one time with a fork. Toss the potatoes with the toasted nut mix and chopped parsley.
Serve immediately.
If you are making it ahead of time, put potatoes into a dish and reheat in the microwave for 2 minutes. Heat the topping on the stove, and toss into the potatoes.
2011
05/18
CATEGORY
Passover Recipes
Side Dishes
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Herb Roasted Chicken and Potatoes

chopped herbs

herb paste

chicken and potatoes before getting roasted

An herb paste smeared onto the chicken adds a concentrated taste of summer. This is a very classy chicken dish. If you want to impress someone, make this dish 🙂 My husband said it best, it’s reminiscent of something you would likely see on a restaurant menu.

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup chopped basil
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped rosemary
  • 1 tablespoon thyme leaves
  • 2 fresh bay leaves, finely chopped
  • 3 tablespoons oil (olive oil if you have it)
  • 2  garlic cloves, chopped
  • 2 chicken thighs or 2 small Cornish hens, backbones cut out and birds split in half
  • 1 potato
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions

  • Blend together herbs, oil, garlic, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper in a blender until finely chopped.  (You can also finely chop the herbs together instead of blending)
  • Chop up one potato (1 potato is enough for two people)
  • Add 3 tbsp oil to the roasting pan and place potatoes and chicken inside.  Rub all over chicken and potatoes. Put chunks of the herbs under the chicken skin – this is important, it infuses the chicken with the delicious and light flavor of the herbs. Bake in 350 F oven uncovered for 1 1/4 hours. Cover chicken if it browns too fast. Baste once if necessary so chicken doesn’t dry out.
Note

  • Chicken can be rubbed with herb paste 1 day ahead and chilled.
  • To cook chicken on the grill, indoors, brown them on the oiled grill, skin side down first, turning once, in a hot large ridged grill pan over medium-high heat, then put in a pan, cover and bake at 350 F for about 18 minutes.
2011
05/14
CATEGORY
main courses
Passover Recipes
Side Dishes
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Spanish Rice

a delicious alternative to plain rice

I took a risk and made this rice recipe today, and I was pleasantly surprised. It is very delicious and easy to prepare. My hubby absolutely loves it too.

Ingredients

• 1 cup long grain white rice
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1/4-1/2 cup long green pepper, finely chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 8 oz. of tomato sauce

Directions

In a large skillet over medium heat, warm oil.  Add onions and green pepper, salt, chili powder, garlic powder, until the onions are tender.
Add uncooked white rice, fry for one more minute.
Add water and tomato sauce to the rice.  Stir well while heating to boiling.
Reduce heat to low, cover with a tight fitting lid, and simmer until rice is tender.  This should take approximately 25 minutes.  Check it at 15 minutes to gauge cooking time.
Fluff lightly with a fork and cover. Let sit for 15 minutes and serve.
2011
05/13
CATEGORY
Side Dishes
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Green Beans in Tomato Sauce

Moroccan style green beans

This is a side dish I grew up with. Its delicious and saucy. Also, very easy to prepare.

Green Beans in Tomato Sauce

Serves 2

1 handful of fresh green beans – about 10
2 tablespoons oil
1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste
a small fresh or dried hot pepper (I used 1 small roughly chopped Dried red pepper for heat)
big pinch of cayenne or black pepper
2 cloves garlic rough chopped
1 cup water
a pinch of sugar
salt – to taste

Directions

Trim both ends off the green beans.
Saute green beans in oil for 5 minutes on low heat, In a small saucepot.
Add water and tomato paste, garlic, cayenne, salt and sugar. mix well
Boil and then let cook on medium heat for 30 minutes. Add the hot pepper.
Continue cooking for another 10 or 15 minutes. Check flavor and adjust if needed.
Green beans should be tender.
The sauce is not spicy at all so don’t be afraid to add the hot peppers they cook off in the sauce.
This recipe is easy and low maintenance, you just throw in everything and let it cook by itself.
2011
05/13
CATEGORY
Moroccan Dishes
Side Dishes
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Crispy Potato Roast

crispy top, potato fan casserole awesomeness

I love this side dish, it’s a few days after passover and I had tons of potatoes left over from the holiday. Hence, the massive slinky of potatoes you see featured here inside a casserole dish!! yum

Ingredients

3 tablespoons margarine or butter, melted
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Coarse salt
1/2 to 1 teaspoon red-pepper flakes or cayenne powder or black pepper (optional- for some heat)
4 pounds russet potatoes, peeled (smaller diameter potatoes are great, if you can find them)
4 shallots, peeled
8 sprigs thyme or 2 teaspoons dried thyme
Garnishes (optional): Bits of goat cheese, or cheddar cheese if you want to make it a dairy side dish

Method

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, combine butter and oil. (I just used 6 tbsp margarine instead of olive oil because I didn’t have olive oil on hand and it still came out great!)

With a sharp knife, food processor or mandoline, slice potatoes crosswise very thinly. Figure out what baking dish you’d like to use (i used a small 8 inch square pyrex, but a small oval casserole dish would be pretty too); Martha suggests a 9-inch round baking dish (a deep dish pie pan would fit this bill).

Once you’ve picked the dish that seems the best fit for your slices, pour two tablespoons of the melted margarine in the bottom and spread it evenly (This is an important step – to keep potatoes from sticking). Sprinkle the oil mixture with a few pinches of coarse salt and red pepper flakes, if using; this will allow you to season both the top and underside of the potatoes. Arrange your potato slices vertically in the dish.

Thinly slice shallots with your mandoline or food processor and slide shallot slivers between potato wedges, distributing them as evenly as possible.  Season the melted margarine with a generous amount of salt, if using dried thyme put that into the margarine too, and go easier on the red pepper flakes, if using, because a little goes a long way in this dish. Drizzle with remaining seasoned melted margarine over the top of the potatoes. Bake 1 1/4 hours. If using the fresh thyme sprigs instead of the dried thyme – arrange thyme sprigs on top after the casserole roasts for 1 1/4 hours, and bake until potatoes are cooked through with a crisped top, about 35 minutes more. If casserole seems to brown too fast, cover it with foil to slow it down. Add any garnishes, if using, and serve immediately.

I got this wonderful recipe from the Smittenkitchen blog. It’s a seriously awesome and beautiful side dish. The smell of thyme and potatoes baking in the oven is hard to capture in words but it’s really wonderful. Strangely enough, this dish also leaves you with such a nice after taste. It’s a must try. It’s simple and looks classy.

Enjoy:)

Perfection. Half crispy potato chip on top, half soft potato casserole underneath

2011
04/28
CATEGORY
Side Dishes
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Potato Croquettes

Ingredients

4 potatoes, boiled and then peeled

1 tsp salt

1 tsp chicken soup mix (or bullion) (this is Optional, but it adds a nice flavor)

1 big onion, minced

1 box fresh mushrooms, diced small (or 1 can mushrooms)

2 eggs, whisked

1 cup matzah meal crumbs (or breadcrumbs)

Optional filling additions:

ground meat, washed and fried in a few tbsp oil *Or*

a hard boiled egg cut up into small pieces (this is a traditional Moroccan filling) *Or*

1/2 cup chopped parsley & 2 cloves garlic

Continue reading →

2011
04/24
CATEGORY
Passover Recipes
Side Dishes
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Majadra – Rice and Lentils ~ מג’דרה ~ مجدره

middle eastern comfort food


Ingredients

  1. 3/4 cup green or brown lentils
  2. 1 cup rice
  3. 1 medium onion, minced
  4. 1 1/2 tsp cumin
    About 1 tsp Salt
  5. Black pepper (1/2 tsp – 3/4 tsp) to taste
  6. Water
  7. Canola oil

Directions

  • Soak the lentils in water overnight (you can add 1/4 teaspoon or so of cumin to the water to boost flavor), before cooking them, rinse lentils in cold water. (shortcut: microwave lentils in water for 2 minutes stirring every minute. then rinse, and let sit in new water for an hour or two until they fluff up.)

  • Put the rice in a strainer and run water over it until the water comes out clear. (cleaning out the starch) Let rice sit for 10 minutes in strainer to dry up.

  • Meanwhile, mince onion (tiny, tiny pieces or to preference) sautee onion in a bit of oil (i use canola) on low/medium heat, until it becomes soft and turns a golden color (you can reserve some of the fried onion 1/4 cup to put over the rice when serving)

  • Add rinsed and drained lentils to the onion ; fry together for two minutes. Add the cumin and a pinch of salt and pepper.

  • Add rice, and continue sauteeing until grains become transparent.

  • Add water (not so much just enough to cover the rice and about up to the first line “knuckle” on your finger. (about a cup and a half to at the most a cup and 3/4s)

  • Add the salt and a bit more pepper and bring to a boil, turn heat down to low, cover with a lid. cook for about 20minutes. you can check on it at 15minutes with a fork to see if there is still liquid at the bottom. Cook for just a few minutes longer if needed

  • Let rice sit covered for 10-20 minutes with the lid on.

  • Before serving gently fluff rice with a fork – this will mix the rice and lentils together, and adjust for salt.

  • If rice appears to need an extra kick you can add a small tab of margarine when you fluff it. (which is usually the secret to making rice tasting better when needed) With this type of rice I doubt you will need to do that because it involves frying the rice in oil.)
  • Serves 4!  or 2 with yummy leftovers. great with roasted chicken 🙂

2011
03/28
CATEGORY
Moroccan Dishes
Side Dishes
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Curried Quinoa

Curried Quinoa

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons canola oil, or as needed
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 cup quinoa
  • 1 1/2 cups chicken broth or 1 tablespoon powdered chicken bullion and a cup and a half water
  • 1 tablespoon curry powder, or to taste
  • 1 teaspoon ancho chile powder or cayenne powder
  • dash of pepper to taste

Directions

  1. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook and stir for about 7 minutes on medium heat until onion begins to turn light golden brown; add quinoa and cook and stir until lightly toasted, about 5 minutes.
  2. Pour broth or  the chicken bullion powder plus water into the pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and add curry and cayenne powders; cover and simmer until tender, about 25 minutes. If needed at the end, season to taste with salt and pepper.

If you would like to make a quick quinoa you can put 2 tbsp oil in a saucepot, stir in the quinoa, stir in powdered chicken bullion (which usually contains a lot of salt in it) and the tbsp curry powder (& cayenne if you wish) fry it for a few minutes then add 1 1/2 cups water and heat it to boiling; simmer for 25 minutes. Put a small tab of margarine in the pot when done and fluff with a fork. Serve hot!

You can tweak and adapt this recipe as much as you’d like! quinoa is like rice – so many flavor possibilities!

It’s so easy and so healthy!

 

2011
03/24
CATEGORY
Side Dishes
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