Archive for the ‘SIDES’ Category
Classic Green Bean Casserole
Been a long time since I have enjoyed this side dish. I remember this dish from when I was just a wee boy growing up and was a common side dish. This is a low cost dish as long beans are very inexpensive, and you can use shortcuts to make the soup and french fried onions. Links to the shortcuts are listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 4 cups fresh long beans, cut into 1-1 1/2 inch pieces
- 1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup, Shortcut
- 1 1/3 cups french fried onions, Shortcut
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- black pepper, as desired
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180 C (350 F).
- Cut the long beans into 1 to 1 1/2 inch pieces, steam until cooked but crisp, about 3 to 5 minutes, drain.
- In a mixing bowl, add the cooked or canned (and drained) beans, soup, milk, soy sauce, black pepper, and 2/3 cup of onions.
- Stir together.
- Pour mixture into a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish and spread out evenly.
- Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes or until bubbly, stir, then sprinkle with the remaining french fried onions, and continue baking for another 5 minutes.
- Serve as a side with any main dish.
Notes
Low cost per serving.
Shortcuts: Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup, French Fried Onions.
Variants: 1. Replace the milk with whipping cream. 2. Pressure cook the beans. 3. French cut the long or green beans. 4. Use 2 cans of drained French cut green beans. 5. Add some diced red bell pepper. 6. Add 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese. 7. Add 1 cup of sauteed mushrooms.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
Skillet Pasta Limone
Simply delicious, and the beauty of this, it is all cooked at one time, in one skillet or a pot, how easy is that. Serve as a main or side dish. On my to cook list.
Ingredients
- 340 grams dry spaghetti, break in half
- 2 leeks, thinly sliced, rinsed well
- 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 1 lemon juice and zest, or a lime, for serving
- 3 sprigs basil, plus more for serving
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 3/4 teaspoon black pepper, plus more for serving
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated, for serving
- 4 1/2 cups water
Instructions
- You can use a heavy walled pot or a large deep skillet for this dish, either will work well. I used my pressure cooker pot due to being thick walled.
- Slice and rinse the leeks several times, reason for this is the way leeks grow, they can have sand in between the layers as it grows.
- To a large deep, non stick skillet or pot, add the water, pasta, leeks, garlic, lemon zest, basil, salt, and pepper.
- Bring to a boil then reduce to a high simmer and cook, stirring often, until the water is nearly gone and the pasta is cooked to tender, about 15 minutes.
- Squeeze in the lemon juice and grated cheese and toss to combine.
- Serve, garnish with chopped basil and lemon zest. Serve as a main or side dish.
Notes
Low cost.
Adapted from an internet recipe.
Sipo Egg II
Sipo Egg is a Filipino quail egg and shrimp recipe that originated in Pampanga, Philippines and is normally served as a side dish, however, this makes a lot, and is delicious as a main dish, just serve with rice and you have an excellent meal. This is the creamy version of this dish, and it is easy to prepare, and is delicious. Links to the shortcuts are listed in the Notes section.
Ingredients
- 500 grams fresh shrimp, pealed, deveined, tail removed, (1 lb)
- 25-30 hard boiled quail eggs, peeled, Shortcut
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- ¼ cup butter
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 3 cups frozen mixed vegetables, peas and carrots, thawed
- ¾ cup water
- 1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup, Shortcut
- ½ cup cashews, roasted
- ½ cup whipping cream
- salt and pepper, as desired, to taste
Instructions
- In a large non stick pan, add the oil and butter, when hot, the shrimp, cook the shrimp about a minute on each side, remove the shrimp and set aside.
- Same pan, add a splash of oil if the pan is dry and cook the onion and garlic until the onion is soft.
- Then add the carrots and peas and stir often and cook for 3 minutes.
- Pour in the water and bring to a boil, hold that for 1 minute then reduce to medium heat. Add the shrimp and quail eggs and stir in.
- Add the soup and cream, stir to mix well, add the cashews, season with salt and pepper. Simmer for a minute or two to heat everything through and thicken a bit.
- Serve as a side with any dish.
Notes
Figure about 20 Baht for the quail eggs, and about 75 Baht for the shrimp, both locally obtained in local markets. For 6 servings, this is about 44 cents per serving.
Shortcuts: Perfect Hard Boiled Quail Eggs, Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup.
Variants: 1. Add diced ham or spam. 2. Use 4 cups of peas and carrots instead of 3 (I used two 340 g / 12 oz steamable bags).
Sipo Egg I
Sipo Egg is a Filipino quail egg and shrimp recipe that originated in Pampanga, Philippines. This is the quick non creamy version, and it does sound good. On my to cook list for sure, and soon. Link to the Shortcut is listed in the Notes section.
Ingredients
- 4 cups frozen mixed vegetables, peas, carrots, corn, thawed
- ½ cup cashews, raw or roasted, your choice
- 18-20 hard boiled quail eggs, peeled, Shortcut
- 500 grams fresh shrimp, pealed, deveined, tail removed, (1 lb)
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ cup chicken stock, cold
- 3 tablespoons corn starch
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- salt and white pepper, to taste
- 3 tablespoons butter
Instructions
- In a measuring cup add the cold stock and mix in the corn starch, set aside.
- In a large non stick pan, melt the butter then cook the garlic and onion until the onion is soft, add the mixed vegetables and cook, stirring often, for 3 minutes.
- Pour in the stock, add the cashews, shrimp, and quail eggs. Bring to a low simmer and cook, also stirring once in a while, for 3 minutes.
- Mix in the sesame oil and season with salt and white pepper powder, serve as a side dish or a light main dish.
Notes
Figure about 20 Baht for the quail eggs, and about 75 Baht for the shrimp, both locally obtained in local markets. For 6 servings, this is about 44 cents per serving.
Shortcut: Perfect Hard Boiled Quail Eggs.
Mushroom Rice II
This is an excellent seasoned rice side dish, very flavorful. You can prepare this on the stove top or using a rice cooker. I prepared this on 17 Mar 2022 using my rice cooker and this was very much liked by the family, with no leftovers.
Equipment
- Rice Cooker
Ingredients
- 1½ cups dry long grain rice, Basmati or Jasmine would be great
- 2¼ cups stock, chicken or mushroom are good choices
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 200 grams fresh mushrooms, button, Cremini, Shiitake are perfect, (7 oz)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 1 cup spring onion, sliced
- salt and pepper, as desired
Instructions
- Quickly rinse then slice the mushrooms, not too thin though. If using Shiitake, remove the stems and just use the caps. Then prep the onion, garlic, and spring onion, I used Shiitake mushrooms.
Stove Top Method
- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large pot over medium high heat, when hot, add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper as desired and cook until browned, stirring often.
- Add another 1 tablespoon of oil plus the butter. When the butter is melted add the garlic and onions, cook for about about 3-4 minutes or until the onion is softened, stirring often.
- Add the stock and rice to the pot and mix together. Cover the pot with a lid and bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low. Cook for 15 minutes or until there is no liquid, tilt the pot to verify this.
- Remove from the stove, quickly remove the lid, dump in the spring onion, and place the lid back on and let this sit for 10 minutes. No stirring, this will steam the spring onion.
- Fluff rice with a spoon, and optionally stir in more butter if desired. Serve.
Rice Cooker Method
- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in your rice cooker pot set on Cook. When hot, add the mushrooms, season with salt and pepper as desired and cook until browned, stirring often.
- Add another 1 tablespoon of oil plus the butter. When the butter is melted add the garlic and onions, cook for about about 3-4 minutes or until the onion is softened, stirring often.
- Add the stock and rice to the pot and mix together. Add the cover to the rice cooker pot and let the Cook function now complete its cycle.
- When the rice cooker switches to Warm setting, quickly remove the lid, dump in the spring onion, and place the lid back on and let this sit for 10 minutes on Warm setting. No stirring, this will steam the spring onion.
- Unplug the cooker, fluff rice, and optionally stir in more butter if desired.
- Serve as a side dish, enjoy.
Notes
Updated on 17 March 2022.
Old-Fashioned Sweet Cornbread Cake
Sounds really good and is an interest way to use cornmeal as I have never heard of this before. On my to cook list.
Ingredients
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/3 cups sugar
- 2 tablespoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1/3 cup butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 4 eggs, beaten
- 2 1/2 cups milk
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180 C, and grease a 9x13 baking dish with butter.
- In a mixing bowl, stir together the dry ingredients, then add all of the liquid ingredients and stir just to moisten.
- Pour the batter into the baking dish and place in the oven and bake for 30 to 45 minutes or until the top is starting to brown and starting to show some cracks.
- Serve as a side, a dessert, breakfast, etc.
Notes
Low cost.
Egg Flower Soup with Oyster Mushrooms
Most of you will know this as egg drop soup, the Chinese name is 蛋(dàn) 花(huā) 汤(tāng), literally means 'egg flower soup'. There is your language lesson for the day. This is a basic soup that can be made with water or broth. The stirring speed determines the size of the 'egg flowers'. When I was in the Navy, egg drop soup meant a near clear broth with egg you could hardly see. This recipe is from a Chinese friend, so I will go with this as very accurate. This recipe calls for Oyster mushrooms, do not confuse them with King Oyster mushrooms, lot of difference.
Ingredients
- 150 grams Oyster mushrooms, root end trimmed, seperated
- 2 spring onions, chopped
- pinch salt
- 3 slices ginger
- 1 egg, whisked, not beaten
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 4-6 cups chicken broth, or water
Instructions
- In a pot or wok, heat the oil, then cook the mushrooms for about 30 seconds or until soft and wilted, then pour in the stock and add the ginger slices, bring to a boil for about 5 to 8 minutes.
- At a near boil, stir the soup slow for larger 'flowers' or faster for smaller 'flowers', when the egg is in and formed, remove from heat and add the sesame oil and a pinch of salt and stir.
- Serve as a side dish by spooning the soup into 2 bowls, top with chopped spring onion.
Notes
Low cost.
Variant: 1. This recipe screams of white pepper powder, just a pinch. 2. Swap out the Oyster mushrooms with Straw mushrooms sliced in half lengthwise.
This recipe for Egg Flower Soup with Oyster Mushroom is from China Sichuan Food.
French Onion Soup Casserole
If anything, this does sound interesting. I will have to give this a try. I will have to research sweet onions here, all I have ever seen is a regulation yellow onion.
Ingredients
- 3 medium sweet onions, thinly sliced
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 4 cups beef stock, fresh or from powder
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 loaf French bread, sliced 1/2 inch thick slices
- 1 cup Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Instructions
- Melt butter in a pot over low heat, add onions and stir, cover and stir occasionally, cooking for about 30 minutes.
- Add the broth and Worcestershire sauce and stir in and increase to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Simmer uncovered for about 30 minutes and the broth will reduce a lot.
- While the broth is reducing, preheat your oven to 180 C and grease a baking dish, I would say an 8x8 or 7x11, with butter. Lightly toast the French bread, you can do that while heating the oven.
- Pour the onion mixture into the prepared baking dish. Add the toast slices to the top in an even layer and space them out about 1/2 inch apart.
- Add the Mozzarella over the toast, then the Parmesan. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the cheese is melted and nicely browned.
- Let rest for a few minutes, serve as a side dish.
Notes
Cheese is the only costly items here. Figure about 90 Baht for the Mozzarella. For 4 servings, this is about 66 cents per serving.
Provided courtesy of good friend, Stephen Connell.
United States.
United States.
Mushroom Brown Rice
Sounds like a great side dish. If I was a betting man, I would think white rice would well in this as well. I believe this will work in a rice cooker as well, I will test this out.
Ingredients
- 1 cup brown Basmati rice, washed
- 9-10 fresh mushrooms, washed and sliced
- 1 large red onion, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- ½ cup butter, ½ standard block / 1 stick)
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- salt, to taste
- 2 cups water
Instructions
- In a small pot, melt the butter then add the mushrooms and onion and stir and cook until the mushrooms are wilted and the onion softened.
- Add the bell pepper, black pepper, and salt to taste, and stir and cook for about a minute, then add the rice, stir and cook for 5-6 minutes.
- Now add the water, stir then cover and cook for about 15 minutes or until the water is absorbed and the rice cooked.
- Mix and serve as a side dish.
Swiss & Bacon Potato Casserole
Sounds great, lot of options here as well. I made this on 5 Oct 2017, and certainly a Go-To potato dish now! The family and I loved this.
Ingredients
- 1 kilo potatoes, thinly sliced, peeled or unpeeled up to you
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 1/2 cups Swiss cheese, shredded
- 6-8 slices bacon, chopped, cooked crispy
- 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1 cup whipping cream
- 1 cup milk
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180 C (350 F). Grease a 8x8 baking dish with butter.
- Thee potatoes sliced with a mandolin.
- Onion diced, cheese shredded (I use blocks and shred myself), bacon cooked and chopped, and the flour.
- Mix together the onion, cheese, bacon, flour, then season as desired with salt and pepper.
- Spread 1/3 of the potatoes on the bottom of the baking dish, then spread 1/3 of the cheese mixture over the potatoes. Repeat the layers two more times, cheese mixture will be last.
- Mix together the cream and milk and pour over the top of the casserole.
- Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 25 to 30 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.
- Remove from oven, let rest for a few minutes, serve.
Notes
Figure about 180 Baht for the cheese, and the bacon, can get that for around 100 Baht. For 6 side dish servings, this is about $1.37 per serving, not a cheap side dish but sounds really good with the Swiss cheese, good for a once in a while side dish for sure.
Variants: 1. Change the bacon to cubed ham or cooked and diced chicken. 2. Add diced green bell pepper, change the onion to chopped spring onion.
Provided courtesy of good friend, Stephen Connell.
United States.
United States.
