Couscous Salad

This is a super easy, healthful side dish that is excellent with meat or seafood entrees. You can cook it ahead, and keep covered at room temperature until ready to serve (you can even make it a day ahead -- store in the fridge and bring to room temperature before serving, making sure to re-fluff it with a fork to loosen the grains). I made this at my cooking demo the other evening, and it made a fantastic partner for the Salmon en Croute and the "Smoked" Pork Tenderloin.

Baked Potatoes Stuffed with Spinach &Gruyère Cheese

This is a perfect side dish for grilled meats or fish--it provides your starch and vegetables in one dish. Try to pick uniform-sized potatoes so they cook evenly and at the same time. It's important to use freshly grated Gruyère cheese, to make sure you get the full fresh flavor of the cheese. Left-overs can be refrigerated, then re-heated for another meal.

Shell Pasta Stuffed with Spinach & Panchetta (or Bacon)

This is another worthy steal from Giada di Laurentiis' recipe collection (I love Giada!)--it's quite hearty and very filling, so it can be an entree or a side dish, depending on how many people you're feeding. I made this while visiting my son in New York, and since it was a large dish, it lasted for quite a few days. It could be a bit tricky arranging the stuffed shells in the baking pan, as they kept rolling on their side -- the next time I make this dish I'm going to use a smaller pan so I can arrange them a bit more snugly.

Baked Asparagus & Carrots Parmesan

My apologies! I completely forgot to photograph the baked vegetables before apportioning them into the plates, but I hope you still get a good idea of how it looks like from the photo above. This is a very easy side dish to prepare; you can prep the veggies and put them into the baking dish ahead of time, then just sprinkle with the cheese when you're ready to bake it. It was a perfect partner for my Veal Piccata with Lemon Caper Sauce (see the recipe on this blog site).

Mascarpone Parmesan Gnocchi

This is a delicious potato-less gnocchi, which can be prepared halfway through and kept in the freezer until you're ready to serve them. This recipe is borrowed from Giada di Laurentiis, but I have tweaked it a little bit, by adding the quick-frying last step to give the gnocchi that nice golden-brown color. I like serving gnocchi as a side dish to accompany meat entrees (like the Veal Piccata that I served for dinner to a large group the other night--will post that recipe next). I will tweak this gnocchi recipe a little more the next time, to try to make the dough a bit more firm so they keep their oval shape when fried.

Asparagus Mimosa

This timeless dish is an elegant and delicious beginning to a dinner, or serve it as a main item for a brunch. You get some inexpensive protein from the eggs. This is an easy dish that you can prep ahead of time--prepare separately the asparagus, the vinaigrette, and the shredded hard-boiled egg, and then just assemble the dish when you're ready to serve.

Talbos ng Kamote Salad (Sweet Potato Tops Salad)

Yet another use for my Anchovy-Mustard Vinaigrette, this time with a very Filipino ingredient -- talbos ng kamote, or sweet potato baby leaves.I had mentioned in another blog that I recently discovered this Asian vegetable farm close to home, and these talbos ng kamote were among my purchases. I haven't had these veggies in a long long while, so I figured that since I still have some of that vinaigrette that I recently made, I'd make a healthy salad for a side dish for lunch. I "blanched and shocked" the talbos (dip them in boiling salted water for 2 minutes, then put them in a bowl of iced water to stop the cooking; dry on paper towels or spin in a salad spinner). I happened to have a pomegranate at hand, so I added some of its seeds and some slices of fresh tomatoes (you can add any fruits or veggies you have at hand). I was having pork adobo and rice, and this was such an excellent accompaniment. My tummy thanked me afterwards!

Two Seafood Salads

In my posting of my Anchovies-Mustard Vinaigrette, I included photos of the Mache Rosettes and Watercress that I used to make the salad.I have now had that salad for two nights in a row, pairing it first with pan-roasted salmon fillet, and then with pan-roasted shrimp. I chose pan roasting because it's the quickest and easiest way to cook seafood to use in salads.

Lumpiang Shanghai (Shanghai Meat Eggrolls)

This is a recipe that I adapted from the wonderful international award-winning cookbook, "Memories of Philippine Kitchens," (reviewed in this blog site) by the Filipino chefs/restaurateurs Amy Besa and Romy Dorotan (their popular restaurant, "Purple Yam" is in Brooklyn, New York). I omitted one ingredient, the ear mushrooms, because I could not find them in the Asian supermarkets in my area. I loved the way the lumpia is rolled -- the wrapper is reinforced by a smaller piece inside the big piece, which prevented any pieces from getting soggy and bursting open with holes when frying them. They were delicious with the Thai eggroll sweet chile sauce.

Anchovy & Mustard Vinaigrette (Plus Two Vegetable Greens)

This is my favorite vinaigrette because I just love anchovies. I like using flavored wine vinegars, and for this one I used a pomegranate red wine vinegar. I also like using sherry and champagne vinegars for my salads. The recipe below makes about 1 cup -- save the left-over in a lidded jar and it will keep in the fridge for at least a couple of weeks, so next time you want to whip up a quick salad, just give it a shake or a quick whisk and you're good to go. I have included below photographs of my two favorite salad greens, which I dressed with this vinaigrette, and after this, I will post the two seafood salads that I made from these greens and this dressing.

Fruity Green Salad with Chicken & Mustard Vinaigrette

A wholesome, filling side dish that can double as an entree, this salad has fruits, greens and chicken. I like using mango and blueberries when they're in season, and good apples are available anytime of the year, but you can use any fruits of choice. To save time, you can buy one of those spit-roasted chickens available in supermarkets, and just flake the meat--you'll have enough leftovers to make a soup, a nice chicken salad for sandwiches, or just eat the rest of it off the bone. If you want less calories, try using a reduced-fat cheese for the topping. The home-made dressing is a snap to make, so try to avoid the temptation of buying processed dressing because they invariably contain preservatives, among other unhealthy things.

Vegetables en Croute (Vegetables in Puff Pastry)

As you can see from the photograph, this dish makes for an awesome presentation, and you get all that delicious creamy flavor of the vegetables inside and the nice crunch of the puff pastry, a great combination of texture. It's really not that difficult to make, especially if you have handled puff pastry before. Try to handle the puff pastry while it's still a little cold (but not frozen) because it gets too soft and limp to handle once it gets to room temperature.

Glazed Eggplants

A simply heavenly side dish for eggplant lovers, easy and quick to make. You'll need to go to an oriental or Asian supermarket to get the Togarashi spice -- it makes all the difference in the flavor of the eggplants.

Brussels Sprouts with Toasted Hazelnut Butter

This is one of my "keeper" recipes, and I have made it many times for family dinners. I know that some people do not like Brussels sprouts, but I feel confident that once they taste this they will be converted! I make a good amount of the butter, and freeze the rest -- it lasts for months, and I can have it ready quickly. I also use it for other vegetable dishes.

Easy Veggies in a Blond Roux

I was making macadamia-breaded tilapia for dinner last night, and scrounged around the fridge for some veggies  to make this easy dish. The lemon juice added a nice tang to the flavor, and made the dish a perfect pair for the fish. You can use other vegetables -- whatever you have available in your fridge. I know that blanching the veggies adds to the cooking steps, but this not only makes green vegetables greener, it also pre-cooks them so you can toss them quickly in the sauce at the end of cooking so they are not overcooked. (Come to think of it, I should have added some edamame beans or green peas to it!) By the way, a roux is a mixture of equal parts butter and flour, used to thicken sauces (you can cook it longer until it's brown to thicken gravy or brown stews).

Wasabi Mashed Potatoes

I like using Yukon Gold potatoes for any mashed potato dish because of their nice golden color when cooked. The wasabi adds a delightful kick to the taste -- just be careful that you don't put too much as it can be overpowering. You can adjust the consistency of the potatoes, whether you prefer it more, or less, moist, by reducing the milk or adding more, until you get the desired consistency. If you're not too concerned about the calories, you could use whole milk and regular sour cream.

Beets & Baby Carrots Delight

I love beets. Iserved this as a side dish for a steak dinner tonight, and it was excellent! Try to use both the red and golden beets, to make an attractive dish.The crumbled goat cheese added an extra dimension to the dish, and it went very well with the steaks and the wasabi mashed potatoes (I'll post the recipe for the potatoes).

Low-Fat Waldorf Salad

 

 
This is a refreshingly healthy but hearty side-dish salad, with fruits, nuts and vegetables. It's best served cold, so it's great to serve on a hot day. I'm heeding a friend's advice to include low-fat and low-calorie recipes, for fellow foodies who love to eat but are mindful of gain weight. So, here's to you, Chit! More such recipes to follow. (My hubby Ian has started photographing my test dishes with his new Nikon; this is one of his first photos (belatedly posted), and they come out so much nicer and sharper than the ones I took using my small but reliable Lumix.)

Endive-Apple Salad with Apple-Parsley Dressing

This easy-to-assemble salad makes a great appetizer or a side dish. There are several different flavors mingling in this dish, and they all complement the nutty, fresh taste and crunch of the endives and mache greens (mache is also known as lamb's ears, and they're my favorite salad greens)--you can substitute arugula. The apple-parsley dressing is heavenly, and only takes a couple