I had a revelation lat night as I sat on the sofa eating homemade Progresso Black Bean Soup for dinner. In my defense, I did manage to do some actual cooking prior to eating my soup, which involved making bread and baking some promising cookies (more on that later, if they in fact turn out to be good). Anyway, about that revelation…
It came about as I was thinking about various side dishes that might go well with tonight’s dinner. I was browsing the internet, as I often do for ideas (yes, even trained cooks and chefs browse the internet and cookbooks for inspiration), and determined that it can sometimes requires an exhausting amount of effort to find a simple side dish. Why, I’m not sure. But even mainstream publications like Food & Wine and Bon Appetit often confuse their readers by placing recipes like Soy-braised chicken and roasted brussels sprouts together on the same page. Both recipes sound good, but what should I make to go with the Soy-braised chicken? Surely not the brussels sprouts that are roasted with bacon and chestnuts?! When I look closely I do notice that there is a wine pairing for the chicken….So maybe if I drink enough of the wine I won’t notice that the brussels sprouts really don’t go well with the chicken?!!! Of course, this is just an example, and the intent of the magazine was not to tell you to make both of these dishes together, but it also never told you what might pair well with the chicken.
And alas, this is the point of my long, drawn-out tale. Let’s find a side dish (or “fixing”) that does pair well with our chicken. Every Friday, I’ll attempt to compile a list of side dishes that work well with a particular main course dish. And PLEASE, if you have any suggestions for side dishes for this week, or requests for future Fridays, please place them in the comments section!
Happy Cooking,
Pippa
Friday Fixing: Week 1
Entree: Simple Roast Chicken with Herbs (here’s an example recipe by Ina Garten, which has worked for me in the past)
Suggested Fixings:
Carbs:
- Dorie’s creamy rice (I loved this recipe! and roasted chicken with rice is a childhood favorite of mine)
- Roasted fingerling potatoes with rosemary
- Garlic mashed potatoes (Julia Child’s version) or an easier version here
- Celery root and potato mash
- Gratin dauphinois , aka potatoes gratin
- Mushroom and barley pilaf
- Zucchini rice gratin (from Smitten Kitchen)
- Mustard-roasted potatoes (another from Smitten Kitchen)
Veg:
- If it’s summer, try panzanella salad
- Sauteed carrots with parsley
- Carrots glazed with orange and ginger
- Steamed or roasted brussels sprouts
- Cauliflower bacon gratin
- Parsnip puree
- Baked endive
- Steamed asparagus (no recipe link needed here I think)
- Steamed haricot verts/green beans with sesame Ool (again, no recipe, just toss your beans in sesame oil and a dab of butter after they are cooked)
- A medley of roasted root vegetables (turnips, beets, sweet potatoes, celery root, shallots… any or all would be great here)
Sunday Suppers with Pippa 