Side Dish Showdown: April Round-Up

It’s time for the third round-up of side dishes for the April Showdown! Once again it was a successful and diverse turn-out with a plethora of side dishes for every need, many of them using ‘Spring’ vegetables. We’ll continue the theme of Spring vegetables for May along with the ‘anything goes’ theme. Before I start the round-up here are the quidelines if you would like to join us this month.

First up is Angie of Angie’s Recipes and her Sauteed Mushrooms with Anchovies. Mushrooms are sauteed with anchovies, and garlic and then white wine is added and cooked down. The dish is finished with fresh basil.

Caveman from Caution: Caveman Cooking is back with Caramelized Apples. Caveman says “This goes great as a side dish or topping for pork, fowl, or game recipes.”

Lori of Fake Food Free made Gorgonzola, Olive & Spinach Pasta Salad. Lori says “I’ve been on a mission to find quick side dishes lately. I haven’t tired of cooking, but with longer days and more time spent outside in the evenings I haven’t wanted to spend a lot of time cooking at night.”

Of this salad she says “I don’t make pasta salads much anymore mainly because I lack ideas for non-bottled dressings. However, with using the cheese and olives in this, it only needed a drizzle of olive oil and a shake of black ground pepper to be complete.”

Meghan of You’re Gonna Bake It After All made Crash Hot Potatoes. Meghan and her husband loved them “I made the full recipe thinking that we’d have a lot leftover . . . turns out we didn’t! These were so tasty that Bob and I kept going back for more until they were gone! I think I even pushed the main dish aside in favor of more potatoes.”

Debbi of Debbie Does Dinner…Healthy & Low Calorie made a Sweet Potato Salad. Debbi says “Potato salad = summer. To me. I know it’s not summer but it’s feeling like it! I’ve been making potato salad for many years and usually make it about the same way. So when I read a recipe that was pretty much like mine but included sweet potatoes, I was delighted.”

Chaya of My Sweet and Savory and Comfy Cook sent three side dishes over. Her first is this Onion Kugel. “This is one of my favorites yet I would not eat it during the year. I keep it to be special for Passover. We do that with a lot of recipes and it is well worth it.”

Chaya’s second side dish are these Vegetable Pancakes she made from a pantry raid. “Raiding my pantry after Passover is humorous. In certain areas, I have nothing at all stored and in others, the shelves are overflowing. Regardless, it is easy to find food to make for a pantry raid and Mark Bittman is a big help is sharing recipes to make the results, a tasty treat.”

Chaya’s third side dish is Orange Beets with Almonds. Beets are glazed with orange juice and zest and then garnished with almonds and fresh tarragon.

Yenta Mary from Food Floozie made Indian Spiced Potatoes. She says  “…we had just bought new red potatoes…Some cumin seed, some coriander, a pinch of red pepper flakes…Indian Spiced Potatoes it is!

“Doug had a second helping of the potatoes and said they were so good he could happily finish off the batch…”

Shirley from Enriching Your Kid sent her Raw Mango Pickles. Shirley says ” I was left with a craving for my mom’s classic mango pickle. So I called up mom for the recipe…”

Peanutts from Chillies and Lime sent over a colorful Rice Salad. Peanutts says “I saw this on a bbc good food recipe book for kids called a rainbow rice salad. Its great recipe to try when you have left over rice and you can use any veg you like. The original recipe had grated carrots and cucumber. You can make it ahead and leave in the fridge and let the flavors develop, a couple of hours ahead…”

Kirsten of From Kirsten’s Kitchen to Yours made a Baby Zucchini and Green Garlic Saute. Kirsten says “I had some gorgeous baby zucchini on my hands and I was very excited to make a simple saute to enjoy their delicate flavor. I had a few green garlic left and knew that they would be the perfect foil for these zucchini.”

Gaga of Gaga In The Kitchen made Vietnames Spring Rolls. Gaga says “Whenever I go to Vietnamese restaurants, I always have an internal struggle between ordering the fried eggrolls and the fresh spring rolls. Usually, the fried ones win, but since the weather is warming up, this seems more fitting.”

Kathleen from Gonna Want Seconds made a Caesar Mayonnaise Dressing. Kathleen says “I love Caesar salad. Who doesn’t? It’s light, refreshing, tangy, and let’s face it, all together way delicious. While I enjoy it all year round, it seems even better when the weather warms up.”

Tigerfish of Teczcape – An Escape To Food sent two dishes. Her first is this Stir-fry Bok Choy and Napa Cabbage with Mushrooms and Carrots. Tigerfish says “I am able to find more fresh produce of vegetables which are not just leafy greens; and I could use them to create homey recipes and dishes. I enjoy to permute and marry several ingredients differently to create new flavors and texture.”

Her second dish is Balsamic Vinaigrette Portobello Mushrooms. Tigerfish says of these mushrooms “…if you are into that extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar concoction, you should love this! Imagine the mushroom sponging in the marinade and spurting out juice of deep earthy mushroom flavors.”

Brandy of Nutmeg Nanny made Roasted Asparagus. Brandy says “My favorite way to eat this delectable vegetable is roasted with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. It’s awesome. The tops get a little crunch to their ends, you pick up delicious roasted flavor and do not get sad little limp stalks like you can get if you steam…”

Daphne of Food Junkie From Texas made our second Asparagus dish: Sauteed Fresh Asparagus. Daphne bought her asaparagus fresh from the Farmer’s Market and saya “This is one of my favorite ways to cook asparagus and my family loves it. I honestly don’t know if there was a huge difference in flavor because it was super fresh, but I do feel better knowing that it hadn’t traveled hundreds of miles to get to my plate. The fact that I helped a local farmer made it special, too.”

This third asparagus side dish comes from Deb of Kahakai Kitchen and is Asparagus with Bacon, Breadcrumbs, Almonds & Capers. Deb says “First up–I am declaring that breadcrumbs are the new black! I am beginning to see them more and more across the web, in cookbooks and magazines. The topping is delicious on the fresh asparagus and would work well on green beans, broccoli, zucchini or other veggies too.”

“It’s an easy and tasty side to serve with meat, fish or chicken.”

Kim of Stirring the Pot made a Green Pea Salad, a lightened up version of her favorite restaurant’s pea salad. Kim says “This is a great springtime or even summertime side dish! Instead of having the standard potato or macaroni salad at your next cookout or barbecue, try this green pea salad. It is the perfect addition to your grilled, barbecued, or even fried chicken.”

“This green pea salad is going to be a new side dish here at Stirring the Pot. It was a hit with everybody.”

Ana from Magic Flavours made Sweet & Sour Baby Onions. Baby onions are cooked in a skillet with balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, muscavodo sugar, thyme, raisins and pine nuts.

Ana says “These are great with roast lamb or beef.”

Lauren of Healthy. Delicious. sent over her ‘versatile’ White Bean Salad. Lauren says “It’s light yet full of flavor, and it only takes a few seconds to throw together. The leftovers are great on a green salad, or they can be pureed and served with toasted baguette pieces for a satisfying hummus-like snack.”

Lauren served this with Grilled Lamb smothered in pesto sauce.

Joanne of Eats Well With Others made Mark Bittman’s Coconut Rice with Swiss Chard, String Beans and Pistachios. It was a ‘pantry raid’ recipe “When deciding what to make I thought about what ingredients I had sitting in my fridge that needed to be used up. There was about a cup of coconut milk left over from a curry I had made. And some string beans and chard that I had bought at the farmer’s market last week. That I had absolutely no plans for.”

“To go with the rice, I also decided to makeBittman’s Baked Tofu with Soy and Sesame, as tofu is also something I always have on hand.”

Roz of La Bella Vita made the fourth asparagus dish, a mouth-watering Italian Asparagus and Potato Gratin of her own creation. Roz says “This is a dish that I came up with on my own, using my favorite cheeses that bubble and create a golden brown top with beautiful green asparagus peeking through while the potatoes float underneath. This dish is a lovely spring dish in presentation as well.”

I made Baked Brown Rice with Smoked Gouda & Spinach. There’s tons of deep, smoky flavor from the Gouda that makes it unforgettably delicious. It’s rich and woodsy with a luxurious creaminess that I almost feel comfortable with comparing to risotto. It’s really lovely. 

Thank-you all for sending me your mouth-watering side dishes!

I look forward to seeing you next month! XOXO