SIDESSALADS

SIDESSALADS

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon

Brussels sprouts and I have quite a history together.

First of all, I've always loved them. Even when I was a kid; loved them. And when I was living on my own and could do weird living-on-your-own-with-no-one-else-to-cook-for things like eat nothing but Brussels sprouts (with about a pound of butter on them) for dinner, I (often) did.

I used to make them the way my babysitter made them when I was growing up - basically just boiling them - until I realized...hmmm, probably not the best way to do it. It leeches out flavor and waterlogs them, and besides: they end up looking a little "eh". So I started roasting them like everyone says to do...but I don't especially love roasted vegetables (or crispy Brussels sprouts).

Finally, I found my own personal Brussels sprouts Sweet Spot: steamed until half-cooked, then finished off in a sauté pan with lots and lots of salty bacon, a little lemon, and salt.

SIDESSALADS

Simple Thanksgiving Side Dish: Butternut Squash, Apple & Pecan Salad

Two months after I moved into my first apartment in West Hollywood, I decided that I’d give hosting Thanksgiving myself a shot. It was just my boyfriend, my parents and me, but I was so excited.

As a housewarming gift my mom had given me a little notebook with hand-written copies of all our favorite family recipes, and I had recently started trying to expand my kitchen repertoire by copying down cool dishes I came across and trying one out whenever I got the chance.

Which means that my cherished “Family Recipe Notebook” actually contains about fifteen things that I actually make…and also lots and lots of weirdly complicated recipes that I thought looked cool when I spotted them in some magazine or another, but never actually tried making (among them: garlic crab risotto, chipotle-honey salmon burgers, and a chilled champagne-ginger-mango soup that sounds extremely fancy but that I am fairly certain would not be my jam).

SIDESSALADS

Walnut, Cherry & Goat Cheese Salad

This salad has been one of my go-tos for years, so much so that I always keep walnuts and dried cherries on hand (so that all I have to pick up are fresh greens and some goat cheese if I want to make it). It's savory, nutty and a little bit sweet, and goes great with pretty much everything (I served it the other day alongside Pork Tenderloin with Gorgonzola Sauce).

In a small bowl, make the dressing by whisking together 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice, 1 tsp fresh lemon zest, and a sprinkling of good sea salt.

Eat

Salt Potatoes With Butter

Apparently this is a thing.

My friend Katie - who is from way-upstate New York - served salt potatoes at a BBQ last weekend, and I was pretty confused by the fact that I've never heard of them (as I'm fairly certain I've heard of most things involving too much butter and salt). So I ate quite a few - all in the service of research, of course - and then looked them up.

"Salt potatoes" are young potatoes that you cook in super-salty water (about one pound salt per four pounds of potatoes) and then serve with drizzled butter. The point is that the salt creates a kind of crust on the potatoes, so they don't get waterlogged the same way normal boiled potatoes do, and end up tasting more like they've been baked. They're apparently popular in Syracuse and the surrounding area mostly because the region has a big salt production industry.


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