Side Dishes: Vegetables and Compotes
I have to admit it, I'm really not a veggie man. But, the dishes we've collected here are so tasty as to make the most rabid meat and potatos advocate cry, "Uncle!", followed quickly by, "Pass me another helping of those veggies!"
Fresh Corn on the Cob
Fresh sweet corn on the cob. Who can say they genuinely don't like it? This is easy. You can boil it or leave it in the husks and microwave. Stay on top of it, though. When we're late, its usually because the corn is late and everything else is ready. My wife "pre-butters" the corn by inserting corn holders and twirling each cob over a stick of butter. Mighty thoughtful of her, don't you think?
Foil Wrapped Oriental Vegetables
One pouch is wrapped, the one below is seasoned and ready to be wrapped...
This is a fantastically tasty recipe. I couldn't believe how well it turned out when I tried it. And it's so easy. Take a square of foil. Pile on some oriental vegetables--I like snow peas, mushrooms, and carrots. Add some slivered fresh garlic and ginger. Sprinkle on soy sauce and sesame seeds. Now fold the top half down, and start folding the left and right sides with tight little folds. You want it to hold in the steam when the vegetables are cooking. Before folding the top closed, add a tablespoon of dry sherry. I'm using Amontillado, with appologies to Edgar Allen Poe. Make a pouch for each diner. Throw them on the grill for about 8 minutes or until the puff up. Done!
Veggie Skewers
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These are dead simple. If your house guests insist on helping, this is the right job for them. Chop up the veggies--I like cherry tomato, red onion chunks, fresh mushrooms, and two colors of bell pepper. The more adventursome could put garlic on as well. Soak the bamboo skewers in water for half an hour so they don't burn, and then start threading the veggies onto the skewers. When done, brush them with some olive oil and apply salt and pepper. BBQ just enough so you can see signs they're cooked, but no more--I like mine pretty crisp. |
Fire-Roasted Garlic
We love garlic--can't get enough of it in fact. Here is a super easy way to grill the garlic. Most of the work is in the garlic, and that ain't much. Just take a bunch of cloves, you can leave whole heads or just the cloves, and put them into a square tray made of aluminum foil. Douse them with some olive oil, and then season liberally with salt and pepper. Put them on the grill where they can receive indirect heat, but no direct flames. By the time the meat is ready, the garlic will be golden brown and soft. I just serve it up like a side dish--the sweet flavor of roasted garlic is wonderful with pork. You can also spread it on crusty french bread.
BTW, the skins of the garlic come off very easily when its cooked, so I wait until this point and remove the skins before serving.
Grilled Vegetables with Yogurt-Pesto Sauce
This is not exactly an Indian delicacy, though they do like grilled veggies, but it goes so well, and you already bought yogurt to make the Tandoori chicken, that it's a natural. By the way, the yogurt pesto sauce is a fantastic and easy substitute for the normal ranch dressing so many people use as vegetable dip. I would also serve this with an Italian meal without batting an eye.
Ingredients
Eggplant
Zucchini
Red Bell Pepper
Yellow Bell Pepper
Fennel Bulb
Red Onion
Olive Oil, for brushing
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
2/3 cup plain yogurt
3 tablespoons pesto
I've left the quantities of vegetables to your own estimation based on the crowd being served. Making the dish is easy: Cut the eggplant into 1/2 inch rounds. Sprinkle with salt and layer in a collander. Let sit for 30 minutes. Rinse and pat dry with paper towels. Slice the zucchini lengthwise. Halve the bell peppers and take out the seeds. Slice the fennel and onion into thick slices. Brush the veggies with olive oil. Salt, pepper, and sprinkle on some garlic powder. Grill until they're lightly browned. I like to cook the onions and fennel in a veggie cooker so they don't fall through the grill. To make the sauce, just whisk together the yogurt and pesto. Done!
Barbecued Drunken Black Beans
I love recipes that involve spicing up something that is tasty but ordinary. My Honey Chipotle BBQ sauce starts from a base of store bought BBQ sauce, for example. These rich Caribbean/Cuban-style black beans start from canned black beans and get "drunken" along the way with all sorts of flavorful ingredients:
Ingredients
6 ounces bacon, finely diced
1 cup sliced yellow onion
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
6 cachuca chiles, finely chopped
2 jalapeno chiles, finely chopped
8 ounces chorizo, diced
½ cup ketchup
¼ cup ballpark (yellow) mustard
1 teaspoon Colman’s mustard powder
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ cup dark rum
2 tablespoons brown sugar
½ cup light molasses
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
3 (15 ounce) cans black beans, drained
Salt
Cook the bacon for 7 or 8 minutes, stirring continuously with a wooden sppon until it is crispy. Add the onion, garlic, cachucha chiles, and jalapenos. Lower your heat and cook until the oniones become translucent, about 5 or 6 minutes.
Add the chorizo, ketchup, mustard, mustard powder, ginger, rum, brown sugar, molasses, Tabasco, and Worcestershire sauce (phew!). Increase the heat until it boils, then reduce to simmer.
Drain the beans, rinse gently under cold running water, drain again, and add them to the sauce, stirring well. They need to simmer for about 1 hour. Season with salt. Turn off the heat and let them cool.
Reheat just before serving.