Home but not Alone

The recipe round-up is all happening tomorrow over at Juloyes place.

The theme is side dishes and as Juloyes says she’s decided to stretch us all a bit

Juloyes is The Accidental Pastor’s wife, she’s got 2 boys and a girl and mostly likely didn’t expect to end up being The Pastor’s wife.

Sound familiar?

On with the excuses business.

1. Hubby is on the other side of the world doing his James Bond impression and he took our camera so sorry folks there are no pics.

2. Let’s be honest – do you make sides dishes when Hubby is out of town?

That being said I really, really, really, did want to take part as I think this recipe round-up is a great idea. (Thanks Rebecca!)

So I’ve come up with a few ideas of how I spruce up the side dishes – hear me out…..

When you are serving your boiled or steamed carrots, add a couple of spoonfuls of orange flavoured marmalade and a sprinkling of ginger, so simple but adds an edge to a bland side dish.

If I’m entertaining a crowd on a Sunday along with my Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding (which would also be classed as a side) I most often serve my vegetables this way:

Start with a large casserole and slice in wedges tomato, onion (white and red) and red, yellow and green pepper into the casserole. Then steam some chopped vegetables (sliced in wedges too), sweet potato, carrot, parsnip, leek, baby potatoes, mange tout, or really what ever you like. Mix all the vegetables together (I do this on Saturday afternoon and store in the fridge until Sunday morning). Then I drizzle some honey, crush a few garlic cloves and add a couple of teaspoons of wholegrain mustard to the vegetables. Mix well. Cook in the oven for 1/2 hour and you have a lovely colourful dish of vegetables ready to serve.

If you visit our little province, one dish which is certainly making a comeback and is now regarded as a side is Champ. When I was young champ would have been served on it’s own, making it a very frugal meal, nowadays the local restaurants would all use it as a side to the main meal, either way it is delicious. There are many variations on how to make champ but if you are looking for a traditional Irish meal or side dish, champ is certainly in the top ten. It’s one of those dishes though that no matter how many variations you try you will never quite make it taste like they do in the restaurants

Note to self: – Insist that hubby takes me out for a meal on his return

I would say this recipe with the exception of using the red potato skins is most like my mum’s version, some recipes on-line just add the spring onions without cooking them a little first, we normally cook them first to soften them. I maintain the hotels/restaurants probably improve their flavor by using more salt and adding cream.

Let me know if you give this easy one a try.

Lastly one I found and hope to try is this Parsnip, Thyme and Caramelized Onion Gratin, this recipe featured on one of our local radio programmes – sounds delicious.

I’m posting early as I’m away most of the day tomorrow but I’m really looking forward to gathering up some interesting side dishes on my return.

Thanks for hosting Juyoles.

Elaine