Suggestions for side dishes...please (wine, grill, tomato, bread)
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How about these:
carrot raisin salad
pasta salad
waldorf salad
cole slaw
potato salad (normally I like cold salads with mayo, but I like potato salads w/ olive oil)
steamed veggies in foil on the grill
grilled veggies, unf take more babysitting than steamed.
Hot, thinly sliced beef with Italian-seasoned broth. Pile it on a good Italian roll and serve it with the jus on the side. I am normally not a fan of wet (soggy) sandwiches, but Italian beef is the bee's knees. I have learned this upon moving to the Chicago area.
I second the cold salad idea. And maybe some fruit. The sweetness will be refreshing.
You might go a bit farther afield in the Mediterranean and serve hummus and pita bread with kalamata olives. If you have a food processor, a couple of cans of chick-peas, some fresh garlic, a tablespoon or so of tahini, lemon juice and olive oil, you can make a killer batch of hummus in about 10 minutes. Add some roasted red pepper if you want something a little different.
Raita, which is a cucumber and yogurt salad flavored with mint leaves and occasionally fine-chopped green onions, would be another possibility.
My spouse recently made up a version of aroshka which was absolutely wonderful. It's similar to raita, but uses kefir instead of yogurt, so it's like a cold soup. He included radishes along with the cucumber, but opted to leave out the potatoes and hardboiled eggs that the recipe called for. Very tasty stuff, and ideal for a hot sticky day.
The only other thing I'd add would be to have a huge spread of fresh fruit for people to nosh on. It's peak season for stone fruit and melons (at least in our neck of the woods), and that always makes a popular side dish.
Getting ready to host an evening meal for 10 people this weekend. I have to keep it simple because it's just too hot to grill out or use the oven.
My main course will be italian beef (crock pot) please give me some ideas for "stay cool" meal side dishes.
Can you believe we are saying something like it is too hot to grill: that is really bad, but we are saying the same thing. I think tonight we will do kabobs though.
Now, to your situation: an array of salads starting with a tomato/cuke salad is great for starters. If you do not want to serve anything warm add a pasta salad, if you want one thing heated I would do a pasta with a cream and tomato sause, topped with parmesan chsese. Another favorite for us always is Asparagus, steamed if you do not want to do the grill thing. Of course just a nice plate of cheese with crackers, grape tomatoes, a little fruit and crackers works well.
Lots of cold beer, wine and mint ice tea to finish it off.
Good suggestions everyone.........with your help I'm on the right track.
Went out today and purchased fresh veggies and fruits for salads and fruit platter. Just had to throw in a couple of bottles of my favorite wine too.
It's cooled of just a little but I'm still going to do the no cook thing in order to keep it simple.
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