Unusual side dish - cooking features, recipes and reviews

Good housewives always try to diversify the diet of their family, wanting to pamper and surprise them. Every day they are in search of what's new to serve with chicken, meat and fish, so that the food is both healthy and attractive. There are many garnish options, but they have all been beaten for a long time and require some kind of culinary improvement.

And now we come to a rather intricate question for amateur chefs: "Is it possible to get unusual side dishes from ordinary products?" Let's figure it out together and see how you can eat deliciously.

How unusual is it to cook pasta for a side dish?

Macaroni is one of the favorite side dishes for most people. Wanting to quickly feed the household, the housewives simply boil and serve them in the form of the so-called "empty" dish. However, there are a huge number of variations in the preparation of this popular product. Do not accustom yourself to cooking simple boiled pasta. And so that you do not spend your time on failed experiments, we offer several interesting recipes.

How unusual is it to cook pasta for a side dish?

Macaroni in tomato and mayonnaise sauce

A very simple but unusual side dish, which can be called a "quick recipe." That is, budget, fast, and most importantly - delicious.

To do this, you will need:

• 300 grams of pasta of any shape;
• tomato paste - 2-3 tablespoons;
• garlic - 2 cloves;
• mayonnaise - 2 tablespoons.

Everything is prepared very simply:

1. First of all, cook pasta until half ready. Tilt in a colander until the liquid drains completely.
2. Heat the pan, melt butter in it or replace it with vegetable oil.
3. Chop the garlic and fry for a couple of minutes.
4. Next, pasta is laid out to it, a slow fire is put on the stove.
5. Mayonnaise and tomato paste are added to the pan to an almost ready side dish, covered with a lid and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Such a simple but very tasty (and high-calorie) dish goes well with meat and chicken.

Caramelized Onion Pasta

To prepare the following recipe, take:

• pasta (any) - 400 grams;
• a tablespoon of sugar;
• red onion - 2 heads;
• a bunch of parsley;
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil;
• balsamic vinegar - a teaspoon;
• salt to taste.

Stages of preparation:

1. Boil pasta in salted water. Finished products are thrown into a colander, they do not need to be washed under cold water.
2. Finely chop the onion and parsley.
3. Chopped onions spread in a heated pan with olive oil. Fry for 2 minutes.
4. Sugar is spread to the onion and sauté for 10-15 minutes until it is completely melted. Do not forget to stir.
5. Then pasta, parsley are spread to the caramel onion and sprinkled with balsamic vinegar. All mix thoroughly and try on salt.
6. Ready-made side dish served hot to meat, vegetables and even wine.

Some cooking tips:

• fresh parsley can be replaced with a mixture of dried herbs;
• Before throwing pasta into a colander, the latter must be scalded with boiling water.

Improvising with rice

How to cook rice in a side dish? Many people ask this question, since this product is considered to be a delicious and very useful cereal. But how boring it is to just cook it! I want some kind of novelty with a favorite side dish.

Next, we will present a couple of original and troublesome recipes, but before:

• do not digest rice, if you do not want to get a mess-mess instead of crumbly cereal;
• for the same reason, do not use round grain rice for cooking.

Rice with vegetables "Colors of Summer"

To serve unusual rice for garnish for dinner, the hostess can use simple and affordable ingredients. For example:

• red root vegetable, it is a carrot - 1 pc.;
• long steamed rice - 300 g (just such processing of cereal will make the side dish crumbly);
• can of peas;
• onion - 1 pc.;
• canned corn - 1 can;
• Bulgarian pepper - 1 pc.;
• vegetable oil - for frying, so the amount is at the discretion;
• salt and spices to taste.

An unusual side dish is being prepared in several stages:

1. First of all, fry the diced carrots and onions in half rings in a pan.
2. Bulgarian pepper is fried in a separate pan . It is also cut into squares.
3. Both types of frying are mixed together.
4. Boil the cereals until absolutely ready.
5. Water is poured from canned vegetables and laid out in rice. Next add frying. Stir the resulting mixture.
6. The final step will be the addition of spices and salt to the finished dish.

Such an unusual side dish for fish is suitable. A dish will get a special shade if sprinkled with a few drops of lemon juice.

The "summer" rice dish was appreciated by many, noting it as satisfying, but at the same time not creating a feeling of heaviness.

Carrot pineapple rice

This dish is hardly a garnish ; it is rather independent. But this does not prevent him from combining perfectly with fish and even meat culinary masterpieces.

For cooking, take:

• steamed long rice - 250 ml;
• canned pineapple in juice;
• 1 carrot;
• 3-4 stalks of green onions;
• dry white wine - 20 ml;
• 1 and 1/3 glasses of water;
• half tsp salts;
• 1 tsp olive oil, can be any other vegetable.

This unusual dish is prepared as follows:

1. Peel the carrots and then rub on a coarse grater.
2. Chives are cut into rings.
3. Pour juice from a jar of pineapples and the same amount of water into a separate pan. Washed rice, carrots and salt are spread there. Bring to a boil, and then reduce the heat to medium.
4. As soon as rice remains ready for a couple of minutes, pour wine into it and simmer under the lid for about 5 minutes.
5. At the end of the process, rice, small pieces of pineapple, green onions and olive oil are mixed and served.

Side dish

Vegetables are best friends for meat. And the matter is not only in taste harmony, but also in balancing useful substances: protein + fiber. Therefore, if you decide to cook a meat or fish delicacy, then give preference to vegetables, in addition, you can cook them in all kinds of ways: boil, fry, steam, bake, etc.

So, what an unusual side dish for meat can be prepared from vegetables?

Broccoli with a twinkle

Broccoli, if cooked correctly and tasty, are transformed from the grass-to-grass category to a wonderful side dish for meat or an independent dish. Here is one of the proven recipes.

We take the following products:

• 450 g of fresh or frozen sprigs of broccoli;
• 2-3 tablespoons of olive / sunflower oil;
• 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar;
• 6 cloves of garlic;
• 1 teaspoon (without slide) of salt;
• red pepper - the amount to taste;
• slices of lemon - for decoration.

The preparation is as follows:

1. Thaw broccoli, boil. Divided into small inflorescences, which can still be cut into pieces, but can be left intact.
2. Using a blender, prepare a thick sauce of red pepper, olive oil, vinegar, garlic and salt.
3. Broccoli is coated with the resulting sauce.
4. A sheet of parchment is lined on a baking sheet, and broccoli is laid on it.
5. Send the baking sheet to the oven, heated to 200 ° C, and bake for 15 minutes.

The finished dish is decorated with chopped lemon slices. The dish does not lose its taste neither hot nor cold. It goes well with meat, and with fish, and with chicken.

Not only ladies are delighted with such a performance, but also a male audience that loves meat. Hearty and with a speck.

Glazed carrots

A very unusual garnish recipe that will complement a meat dinner. Such a dish is also suitable as a snack on the festive table.

The ingredients are as follows:

• a kilogram of carrots;
• a piece of butter weighing 60 g;
• salt, ground pepper - to taste;
• a glass in 200 ml of orange juice;
• 2 tablespoons of sugar, but better than honey;
• fresh thyme - for decoration (can also be dried).

An unusual side dish is prepared like this:

1. Peel and wash the carrots. Cut into cubes, the length of which should be approximately 5 centimeters.
2. Meanwhile, heat a large pan and melt butter on it.
3. As soon as it melts, spread the carrots in the container. Salt it, pepper. Fry over medium heat until the whetstones become soft and brighten.
4. As soon as the carrot softens, citrus juice and honey (sugar) are added to it.
5. Continue to cook the dish, stirring until the introduced ingredients turn into icing.
6. At the end of cooking, you can add more pepper.
7. Spread the finished dish on a plate and sprinkle with caraway seeds, preferably fresh.

The dish attracted many lovers of unusual food. According to reviews, such a side dish has become a regular in many families.

Potatoes

How can I make an unusual side dish of potatoes? Yes, in different ways, one puree of which only costs. Remember how in the movie "Girls" the main character said that more than 100 dishes can be made from potatoes?

Further, we will present not 100, of course, options, but the most original and simple ones.

Fried potatoes with rosemary

Such an unusual side dish is suitable for cutlets, vegetable salads, meat, and even as an independent dish will fit.

The list of ingredients is small:

• a kilogram of new potatoes;
• a tablespoon of olive (any other vegetable) oil;
• a tablespoon of dried rosemary (or 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh);
• salt to taste.

Prepared in stages:

1. Young potatoes are thoroughly washed, the peel is not peeled off.
2. Washed tubers are cut into quarters.
3. After the potato wedges are mixed with oil, salt and rosemary. The root crop should be completely coated with "sauce".
4. The oven is heated to 220 ° C. Foil or parchment paper is lined on a baking sheet, on which the potatoes are evenly laid.
5. Place everything in the oven and bake for 40-50 minutes, not forgetting to mix every 15 minutes.

Such an unusual side dish is best served hot. It will no longer be cold or warmed up, since it will not remain after that.

Potato "Countess"

Exquisite unusual side dish for chicken, vegetables or fish. What is it made of? Necessary:

• butter - 100 g;
• potatoes - 1.5 kg;
• nutmeg - on the tip of a teaspoon;
• cream of any fat content - 50 ml;
• egg yolk - 6 pcs.;
• 1 egg, protein and yolk;
• salt and spices to taste.

The Countess is being prepared as follows:

1. Mashed potatoes.
2. Immediately turn on the oven to warm up to 200 ° C.
3. Yolks are added to the prepared and slightly cooled mashed potatoes. Mixed.
4. Salt, spices and nutmeg are added to the potato and yolk puree.
5. The mixed mashed potatoes are placed in a pastry bag, and then squeezed out of the little patterns on the baking sheet covered with foil.
6. The egg is driven into a separate bowl, salt and cream are added to it.
7. The resulting mixture is coated with potato roses and sent to bake in the oven. 20 minutes is enough.

Many housewives appreciated the creativity of such a side dish. Some noted that they prepare such a dish as a snack on the festive table.

Unusual buckwheat side dish

Buckwheat porridge is one of the healthy cereals that must be in the diet. And it’s not necessary to simply boil it with salt. Here's how you can deliciously cook an unusual side dish of buckwheat.

Buckwheat with greens and egg. To prepare you will need:

• a glass of buckwheat;
• 2 pieces of chicken eggs;
• 2 branches of dill, parsley and green onions;
• 20 grams of butter;
• a tablespoon of olive oil;
• salt and ground black pepper.

Garnish is prepared as follows:

1. A glass of washed buckwheat is poured into a pan and poured with 0.5 liters of water.
2. Bring the porridge to a boil, salt, reduce the heat and cook for 20 minutes.
3. In parallel, eggs are boiled. 10 minutes is enough. Get out of the pan and cool.
4. A cube of oil is added to the finished porridge.
5. Dice the eggs and pour them to the side dish.
6. The greens are washed and finely chopped. Pour everything to porridge. Mixed.
7. Olive oil is added to porridge.

Ready-made side dish goes well with any dishes: meat, vegetable, chicken. Also suitable as an independent dish for dinner.

Buckwheat + cabbage. Two side dishes that complement each other perfectly. It is prepared quickly and easily. You will need:

• head of cabbage - a pound;
• 1.5 cups of buckwheat;
• carrot - 1 pc.;
• a pair of onions;
• sunflower or olive oil for frying;
• 2 tablespoons of tomato paste;
• salt and spices as desired.

Stages of the culinary process:

1. Onions and carrots are cut and grated. Fried in vegetable oil.
2. Cabbage is cut into strips and sent to frying in a pan.
3. All mix and simmer under the lid for 5 minutes.
4. At the end, add tomato paste, mix, remove from heat.
5. Washed buckwheat.
6. Buckwheat and the contents of the pan are placed in a separate cauldron or thick-walled pan. Pour hot water so that the contents of the cauldron are completely covered with water.
7. Stew under the lid for half an hour and can be served.

Such a simple masterpiece was appreciated by many ladies who monitor their nutrition and count calories. Minimum calories, but at least more benefits and taste.