We’re sharing some of The Taste Edit’s most popular summer side recipes. Some of our favorites include the bacon wrapped chorizo-stuffed dates, flavorful Miso Eggplant, and Zazu Kitchen + Farm’s BBQ beans from Sonoma. Explore all of them below and let us know which is your favorite!
Herb Roasted Potatoes
The prep work for these potatoes is so minimal that you can make them any night of the week, with anything from fish (like halibut in parchment), to porchetta, a steak on the grill, or roasted chicken. In the winter, we would even serve them with a holiday meal like roasted turkey or a beef tenderloin with blue cheese sauce.
Zazu Kitchen + Farm BBQ Baked Beans
Everything we tried at Zazu Kitchen + Farm was delicious, including the cocktails (read more here), but the highlight of our lunch was the beans that came with the pulled pork sandwich. They were amazing, and tasted like a cross between chili and baked beans. Chef Coahan was kind enough to share the recipe.
Cherry Tomato and Mozzarella Salad
This is the perfect refreshing salad to enjoy in the last few days of summer! It’s a simple and delicious way to enjoy those ripe tomatoes.
Creamy Miso Eggplant
This is a super-fast, amazingly delicious dish that would be perfect served with rice. It would make a perfect vegetarian lunch or a lovely side dish with seared fish or chicken. Our pairing suggestions would be a dry Riesling or Gewurtztraminer, sparkling wine, or beer.
Creamed Corn
What makes this creamed corn different than most is that it starts with bacon. Corn and bacon make a fantastic flavor combination (check out this book for tons of ideas on flavor pairings). Make this for your next barbeque.
Pimento Cheese Dip
One key we found to making the best pimento cheese dip is to grate your own cheese. Do not buy pre-grated cheese! We tried it and the texture is not the same.
Chorizo-Stuffed Bacon-Wrapped Dates
One of our favorite local spots in Chicago was Avec. It’s casual and fun, and you can try all kinds of different bites to share with your table. From time to time, we crave Avec’s chorizo-stuffed bacon-wrapped dates. Who wouldn’t? If you live in Chicago, you can pick some up at Publican Quality Meats. For those of us who live outside of the Chicago, try our version of the recipe. We love using merguez sausage.
Eggplant Caponata
Making caponata is really simple. Use our favorite peeler, which is great for thin-skinned items like tomatoes and eggplants, to peel the eggplant in alternating stripes. While the eggplant is draining, you can prep the rest of your ingredients for a quick and easy side dish.
Jalapeno Cornbread
What would a summer barbecue be without cornbread? Ours has jalapenos and cheddar, and you can make it, start-to-finish, in about 25 minutes! We will confess that we have a weakness for this jalapeno cheddar cornbread.
Fava Beans and Grana Padano
Cibrèo Ristorante in Florence is one of our favorite restaurants in the world. One of the many small dishes served at the start of the meal is this fresh salad of fava beans and cheese. Another of our favorite dishes from Cibrèo is their yellow pepper soup. We make it often for parties and chilly nights.