Side

When I was growing up, my mother served a lot of canned vegetables, but the one thing she always made from scratch was acorn squash, which she roasted with butter and maple syrup. When I revisited her old method, I found it was just as good as I remembered. The sweet squash filled with a big puddle of melted butter and sweet syrup is so irresistible!

Turmeric, chiles, and chewy-nutty cooked grains balance the sweetness of fresh corn in this loose vegan riff on creamed corn.

Some would call showering potato salad with potato chips “gilding the lily.” We would call it “extremely sensible and incredibly tasty.”

This coconut rice recipe appears in Leela Punyaratabandhu's cookbook, Bangkok, as part of a meal that includes green papaya salad, sweet shredded beef, and chicken red curry.

Very loosely inspired by Lebanese fattoush, this is one of those dishes where you want to use only the ripest, most fragrant tomatoes in the bunch.

This recipe shines for its simplicity. However, in order for it to be spectacular, the quality of the three ingredients really matters.

In this recipe, summer produce gets stuffed with spiced ground lamb and cooked in an oniony tomato sauce. Top it off with crispy garlic, herbs, and yogurt.

Bisibelabath is kitcheree’s spicier cousin. The name means “hot lentil rice,” so consider yourself warned—this is a spicy dish of vegetables, rice, and lentils straight out of South India. I like to serve it with raita to cool things off.

Fresh ramen noodles become a dreamy throw-together summer meal thanks to a kaleidoscope of crunchy veggies and a tangy pantry-staple dressing.

Toss grilled carrots and fresh avocados with a chile-ginger dressing that's sweetened with honey for a simple side that can easily double as a light lunch.

This salad is inspired by Chinese dish lao hu cai, otherwise known as tiger salad. Unripe plums, nectarines, or peaches marinate in a spicy dressing and get tossed with crisp celery and herbs.

While this recipe features scallions, Korean pancakes can be filled with almost anything: garlic chives, ramps, chrysanthemum leaves. If you want something a little more substantial, add squid or shrimp cut into  bite-sized pieces.

Keep the mushrooms whole or in large pieces (so they don’t fall through the grate), and you will be rewarded with burnished, concentrated mushroom goodness.

This grilling method gives similar crispy skins and creamy interiors to eggplant, which need just a handful of toppings to get full-on delicious.

These potatoes are simmered in seasoned water until tender, then grilled for a touch of char and smoky flavor. Bathe them in a mix of garlicky melted butter and miso, and this side dish becomes a star.

Grill your corn right away over the high heat of just-lit coals, then let it hang out in a cooler while you grill proteins and more delicate vegetables. The corn will finish cooking by steaming in the cooler and stay warm for hours.

Potato salad gets a fresh burst of flavor from a dose of Jamaican jerk seasoning. The spicy rub is the foundation of the creamy dressing, where some of the heat is quelled by rich mayonnaise.

As with any fermented food, timing will depend on the ambient temperature (the hotter it is, the faster it will go). Indoor temperatures were about 68°F—72°F when we developed this recipe and that’s what our time range reflects, so use it just as a guideline. If possible, 82°F is ideal. Most important though will be checking for signs that indicate the batter is ready (bubbly, airy, and sour).

This Ethiopian dish of chickpeas in a berbere-spiced, flaxseed-thickened sauce makes for a quick, filling, and wonderfully flavorful meal.