What’s Your Favorite Summer Side Dish?
Hello and welcome back toWhat’s Cooking? , an open thread where you can share your brilliant thoughts, tips, recipes and opinions on all food related matters. Now that the grilling season has officially begun, I would like to talk about the most important part of the barbecue: the sides.
Yes, I know meat is important, too, but I can eat a whole serving of picnic side dishes and be full. Naturally, I want to hear what your favorite side dishes are and how you prepare them:
- What is your preferred method of cooking corn? I will eat corn, however cooked. I love it grilled, I love it with cream and I even eat it raw . Some people (from the Midwest) insist that steaming is the only acceptable way of cooking, and I admit that steamed corn is very good.
- What’s your favorite cold salad? I love potato salad (if it doesn’t have celery in it), but my favorite is broccoli salad with bacon, cranberries and some kind of crumbly or grated cheese, seasoned with mayonnaise-based dressing.
- Do you feel that the pasta salad has been unfairly defamed? It probably won’t work if I run out of real estate on my plates, but I don’t mind a good pasta salad.
- How to make a paw? I’m making my way to A.A. Newton .
- What’s the best way to prepare a fruit salad? Instead of dousing it with yoghurt dressing, I treat my fruit salad like a vegetable creation and add vinaigrette to it . Walnut oil is a great base for this, especially when paired with champagne vinegar, honey, and just a pinch of chili flakes for contrasting warmth. If I don’t want to spend a ton of money on fruit, I focus on one type of food and pair it with additional cheese and herbs .
- What is the best bread to serve with a barbecue? King’s Hawaiian white sliced bread or rolls.
- What are the best vegetables to grill? Take some liquid rainbow carrots, remove the tops – save them for the pesto – and stir in a little olive oil and salt before grilling. You will not regret it.
As always, feel free to talk about anything distantly related to the topic, even if it doesn’t answer one of the above questions. I am especially susceptible to any corn content.