The Big Book of Sides: More than 450 Recipes for the Best Vegetables, Grains, Salads, Breads, Sauces, and More: A Cookbook - Hardcover

Rodgers, Rick

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0345548183 ISBN 13: 9780345548184

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 2014

Synopsis

Whether planning a quick dinner after work or a holiday meal for a crowd, you will never be stumped for a side dish again.
 
Side dishes make the meal. Think about it: What’s a burger without fries, turkey without stuffing, or barbecue without coleslaw, baked beans, or macaroni and cheese—or all three? The Big Book of Sides contains more than 450 delicious recipes to complement any dish. Award-winning cooking teacher and author Rick Rodgers has carefully compiled a variety of wonderful options, from traditional to inspired, Americana to ethnic, Southern fare to California cuisine. Sections include “Eat Your Vegetables,” “From the Root Cellar,” “A Hill of Beans,” “Righteous Rice and Great Grains,” and “Pasta and Friends.”
 
The Big Book of Sides shares
 
· more than 100 information-packed entries on vegetables alone, from artichokes to zucchini, including root vegetables and grains
· tutorials on the cooking techniques you need to know, such as grilling and deep-frying
· at-a-glance charts for a variety of perfectly roasted vegetables and freshly cooked beans
· carefree menu planning, with a complete list of special-occasion meals and suggested side dishes
 
Home cooks of all levels will delight in preparing Roasted Summer Squash with Pepitas and Cilantro; Chard Puttanesca; Parsnip, Apple, and Bacon Hash; Smoked Gouda Mashed Potatoes; Quinoa with Carrot and Mint; Farro, Cherry, and Feta Salad; and Butternut Squash and Potato Gratin. Rodgers also shares recipes for relishes, chutneys, pickles, baked goods (from biscuits to foccacia), and even sauces.
 
With helpful tips on how to stock your pantry, easy-to-follow cooking techniques, gorgeous color photos, and main dish pairing suggestions, The Big Book of Sides is sure to become a trusted staple in your kitchen.

About this title

About the Author:

Rick Rodgers is an award-winning cookbook author and cooking teacher and the writer of more than forty cookbooks on subjects from baking to grilling and more. Rodgers often works behind the scenes as a recipe tester, co-author, and consultant on cookbooks by other authors, including Lilly Pulitzer and Sarabeth Levine of Sarabeth’s Bakery. He has also written corporate cookbooks for clients such as Kingsford Charcoal and Sur La Table, as well as many titles for Williams-Sonoma. Rodgers’s recipes have appeared in Bon Appétit, Cooking Light, Men’s Health, Food and Wine, and Fine Cooking, among other magazines. He has received Bon Appétit Magazine’s Food and Entertaining Award as Outstanding Cooking Teacher and an IACP Cookbook Award for The Chelsea Market Cookbook. Rick Rodgers has been guest chef on all of the national morning shows.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

Getting It to the Table

 

Cooking Methods

The most obvious way to vary your side dishes begins with the choice of ingredients. But choosing one cooking technique over another will also change things up. For example, roasting will add sweet, caramelized notes, while steaming retains the food’s natural characteristics, and braising creates an interchange of flavors between the food and the cooking liquid. Most of these techniques refer to vegetables because they are the stars of the side dish menu.

 

Cooking methods are separated into two large categories: moist heat and dry heat. Moist-­heat methods (boiling, simmering, blanching, steaming, braising, and pan-­roasting) require liquids, including water and steam, to cook the food. Dry-­heat methods (sautéing, stir-­frying, roasting, baking, grilling, and deep-­frying) do not use water as their cooking element, and the heat source does the work.

 

Moist-­Heat Cooking Methods

 

Boiling, Simmering, and Blanching

Boiling cooks the food in strongly bubbling hot water (with a temperature of 212ºF at sea level, although you won’t need a thermometer!). This technique does a relatively fast job of softening tough vegetables, so it is one of the most common methods for root vegetables, corn, and the like, and boiling also does a great job of brightening the food’s color. Its main drawback is that nutrients can be leached into the cooking water.

 

Simmering uses water heated to a slightly lower temperature than boiling to create smaller bubbles for a more delicate cooking method for tender ingredients.

 

Blanching is a technique that partially cooks the food by boiling it briefly, and then finishes the cooking later with a second method, usually sautéing.

 

To cook by boiling, simmering, or blanching, fill a large saucepan or pot from one-­half to two-­thirds full with cold water. (The jury is out on whether you can use hot tap water to save time, because some experts believe that old hot-­water pipes leach lead, so cold water is safer from a health perspective.) The water should be salted—­enough that you can taste the salt, but so that the water isn’t as salty as seawater. If you require a measurement, use about 2 teaspoons kosher salt (or 1½ teaspoons fine sea or table salt) for every quart of water. The salt isn’t just there for flavor; it also helps soften the vegetables for quicker cooking. Cover the saucepan and bring the water to a full boil over high heat.

 

The vegetables should be cut into uniform pieces that will cook in about 5 minutes. (Potatoes and other very hard vegetables will take longer to cook, but evenly sized pieces are still important.) Cooking in liquid breaks down the cell structure in vegetables, so whether you are boiling, simmering, or blanching, check the food occasionally to avoid overcooking. The best tool for this is the tip of a small, sharp knife.

 

When the food is cooked to the desired texture, drain the contents of the pot in a large colander. In most cases, the food is now ready to season and serve—­rinsing will not “set the color,” so it is totally unnecessary at this point.

 

However, if the vegetables are going to be reheated later, stop the cooking by rinsing them under cold running water. It is not always necessary to transfer them to a bowl of iced water, a step that just uses another bowl and depletes your supply of ice cubes. You can do it if you wish, but be sure to remove any unmelted ice cubes from the water after the vegetables cool. Drain the cooled vegetables well and pat them dry with clean kitchen towels before storing them in plastic zip-­tight bags.

 

Steaming

Steam, the vapor from boiling water, is actually as hot as the water itself, and can cook food on a rack in a closed pot. Steaming’s gentle heat retains the vegetable’s characteristics (shape, flavor, and texture) and nutrients better than boiling in water, but it can take more time.

 

Place a collapsible steamer rack in a large saucepan. The saucepan must be large enough to contain the vegetables without crowding so the steam can travel freely around the food. Pour in enough water to come just below the insert. (If you are using a steamer-­style saucepan, just add an inch or two of water to the saucepan.) Cover it tightly and bring the water to a full boil over high heat, with a visible head of steam.

 

Add the food (be careful of the hot vapors) and cover it again. Adjust the heat to maintain the full steam. If you are steaming food (such as artichokes) for more than 15 minutes, check the water level and add more boiling water as needed so it doesn’t boil away. Only check when you think it is really necessary, because opening the lid will drop the temperature.

 

Braising and Pan-­Roasting

Sturdy vegetables (such as members of the onion family and other roots) often benefit from braising, the technique of slow simmering in a moderate amount of liquid. The gentle cooking tenderizes the vegetable at a relaxed pace, helping it keep its shape. Braising also allows for an exchange of flavors, and the liquid is often turned into a sauce. Pan-­roasting is similar to braising, but the vegetables are browned first for a bit of rich, caramelized flavor.

 

Vegetables can be braised in a skillet, but for larger quantities, use a saucepan. Sometimes seasoning vegetables (onions, garlic, and their friends) are cooked in the skillet first as a base flavor. Add the main ingredient with just enough liquid (broth, water, wine, or even milk) to barely cover the vegetables, and bring it to a simmer over medium heat. Thin vegetables, such as asparagus, will use less liquid, but root vegetables will take more. Reduce the heat to medium-­low to maintain the simmer, and cover the cooking vessel. Braise the vegetables until they are tender. Often, the lid is removed during the last part of cooking to reduce the liquid and intensify its flavor.

 

Dry-­Heat Cooking Methods

 

Sautéing

One of the quickest cooking methods, sautéing cooks the food in a small amount of fat. Sauté comes from the French word “to jump,” and the food is tossed or stirred in the pan on a fairly constant basis to keep it from burning.

 

Oils with high smoke points are best for sautéing. (The smoke point is the temperature where the oil begins to smoke, which detrimentally changes its chemical composition and flavor.) Canola, olive, grapeseed, or peanut oils are equally good.

 

Choose a heavy-­bottomed skillet to protect food from the high heat of the burner. Whether you use a pan with high sides to contain the food or one with sloping sides to facilitate turning the food is a matter of personal choice. Heat the fat (butter or oil) in a skillet over medium-­high heat until the oil starts to shimmer or the foam from the melted butter begins to subside. (In some cases, to provide an extra-­hot surface for cooking the food, the oil is added to a preheated skillet, as described below for a wok. Don’t try this with butter, though, as it will burn when it comes into contact with the hot pan.)

 

The ingredients should be dry before adding them to the skillet. Add the food and cook, stirring occasionally, until it is cooked through. How much you stir depends on the amount of browning you want.

 

Stir-­Frying

Stir-­frying is synonymous with Asian cooking. The food is cooked over very high heat with constant stirring. The curved sides of a wok make turning the food over easier, but I often use a very large skillet with success.

 

Heat the skillet or wok over high heat for a minute or two—­if you hold your hand an inch or two above its surface, you should feel the heat. (Do not preheat a skillet with nonstick coating over high heat as this could decompose the surface.) Add the oil and tilt the skillet to coat the inside. Add the food and cook, stirring almost constantly with a large spoon, until it is cooked through.

 

(A note on woks: I love my spun-­metal wok, but it requires special handling, just like a cast-­iron skillet. To build up a natural nonstick patina, cook in it often, even if you aren’t making a Chinese recipe. Any cooking technique that uses oil will help “season” the surface. Never wash the wok in soapy water, or you’ll remove the seasoning. Just wipe it out with moist paper towels and a large sprinkle of kosher salt, and dry it immediately to prevent rusting.)

 

Roasting and Baking

This high-­temperature technique cooks uncovered food in a hot oven. If the temperature isn’t high enough, the vegetables will not develop the delicious browned surface that makes them unique. Solid vegetables, from carrots and potatoes to cauliflower and winter squash, can be roasted just as successfully as tender asparagus—­it’s just a matter of timing.

 

A large, rimmed baking sheet (also known as a half-­sheet pan, measuring about 17 × 13 inches) is a required piece of equipment for roasting. As with the other cooking techniques, to avoid a build-­up of steam that would prevent browning, the food should not be crowded on the sheet.

 

I find that 425ºF is a good average temperature for roasting—­not too hot and not too cold. Cut the vegetables into uniform pieces as directed in the recipe. Toss them with a tablespoon or two of oil, and spread them on an oiled baking sheet. I do not add salt and pepper at this point because the salt can draw liquid from the vegetables and make more steam to inhibit browning. Roast until a thin, golden brown crust has formed on the undersides of the vegetables. Using a metal spatula, flip the vegetables and continue roasting them until they are tender. If you are adding flavorings, such as garlic or herbs, add them toward the end of roasting so they don’t burn.

 

Also accomplished in an oven, baking cooks food at a more moderate temperature, and browning is not necessarily a desired outcome. For example, baked potatoes are cooked at a lower temperature than roasted, and whether or not the skins are browned is immaterial.

 

Grilling

Grilling is the only cooking method that does not require a vessel to hold the food—­it is placed right on the cooking grate. Gas grills make grilling a breeze, and you can control the cooking temperature with the turn of a knob. I am a die-­hard charcoal grilling fan because it gives the food a stronger smoke flavor. However, when it comes to side dishes, I turn on my gas grill to save time. Also, it takes about 20 minutes for smoke to really infuse the food, and since most side dishes cook in less time, there is no need to build a charcoal fire for flavor reasons.

 

If you are cooking with a charcoal grill, build the fire and let it burn until the coals are covered with white ash. Spread the coals out, but leave a border around the edge of the fire. At this point, the coals are very hot, about 550ºF. In fact, while it is a good temperature for searing steaks, it is too hot for cooking vegetables. Let the coals burn down, uncovered, until they have reached medium heat: You should be able to hold your palm about an inch away from the grill grate surface for 3 to 4 seconds. If you have a thermometer in the grill lid, it should register 350º to 450ºF.

 

For a gas grill, ignite the heat source and let the grill preheat with the lid closed for at least 15 minutes. Now adjust the heat as needed to the desired temperature, about 400ºF. If your grill thermometer doesn’t give precise numerical temperatures, go for the “medium” range.

 

Grilled food is cooked with either direct or indirect heat. Direct cooking, where the food is placed directly over the heat source, is used when the food is thin and delicate and will cook in less than 15 minutes or so. With indirect cooking, only one side of the grill is heated, and the food is placed away from the heat source to be cooked by the radiant heat.

 

For both charcoal and gas grills, always cook with the lid closed, which traps the heat inside of the grill and reduces the oxygen that feeds the fire and can encourage flare-­ups. But do open the top and bottom vents of a charcoal grill to provide some oxygen, or you could extinguish the flame altogether.

 

Use a wire grill brush to thoroughly clean the grill grate before adding the food. I never oil the grill grates because the oil only burns and leaves ashy marks on the food. It is much better to oil the food itself, or let the oil in a marinade do the lubricating.

 

Deep-­Frying

Deep-­frying is only considered a dry-­heat method because it does not use water. Instead, the cooking medium is hot oil. Most cooks use deep-­frying as an infrequent treat, but it is still important to know how to do it well, as nothing gives food such an irresistibly crisp exterior.

 

The ideal temperature for deep-­frying is 365ºF, which allows the outer crust to form while the food cooks through. A deep-­frying thermometer is really indispensable. A low-­tech alternative is to dip the handle of a wooden spoon or chopstick in the oil. If tiny bubbles form immediately around the wood, the oil is hot enough. I like an instant-­read probe thermometer (the kind with a wire cord leading to a digital display unit) because, unlike the standing clip-­on model, it can be used to read the temperature in a shallow skillet.

 

Depending on the size of the food (it needs to float on the oil surface without touching the bottom of the pan), use either a large, heavy skillet or saucepan. I have come to prefer a skillet because it uses less oil. To hold and drain the fried food, place a large wire cooling rack on a large rimmed baking sheet. This works better than draining on paper towels because steam collects and softens the food where it comes in contact with the towels.

 

The type of oil is immaterial—­any neutral-­flavored one is fine. Pour in enough oil to come about halfway up the sides of the skillet or saucepan and heat over high heat until the oil reads 365ºF on the instant-­read thermometer. In batches, add the food to the hot oil without crowding, and cook according to the recipe directions until it is golden brown. Use a wire spider (a very large mesh strainer on a handle) or a slotted spoon to transfer the food to the wire cooling rack. Keep the food warm in a preheated 200ºF oven until it has all been cooked, and then serve it immediately.

 

Never reuse deep-­frying oil. It will probably go rancid before you have the chance to use it again, even if stored in the refrigerator. Just let it cool and discard it.

 

Picking Sides

Perhaps part of the problem of choosing a side dish or two (or more) for a main course is simply that the cook is fa...

About this edition

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0345548183
• ISBN 13: 9780345548184
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 480