Side

The sweetness of the tomatoes and the fennel is balanced by the savory, starchy beans.

The season's best beans shine in this salad. Shaved pecorino fresco—a mild, fresh sheep's-milk cheese—is a delicious finishing touch.

This slaw is perfect as a side dish or added to a pulled-pork sandwich.

Kohlrabi, a bulbous vegetable with thin stems attached, is a member of the cabbage family. Both green and purple varieties are available. The flavor is a mix of turnip, celery root, and radish. Like other vegetables in the cabbage family, kohlrabi is rich in antioxidants.

Asian sweet chili sauce is available in the Asian foods section of many supermarkets.

The veggies are great at room temperature, so grill them a couple of hours ahead, if you like. Cooking them ahead also frees up room on the grill for whatever meat you’re grilling (lamb would be delicious with the vegetables).

These are delicious as part of an appetizer plate, or as a Martini garnish.

For the best flavor, use an artisanal root beer made with cane sugar (not corn syrup). We like Faygo and Fitz's, but many more options are available online at sodapopstop.com.

Olivada, an Italian olive spread, adds flavor and color to this side dish.

Any leftover chile butter would be delicious on roasted sweet potatoes or cornbread. If you make the butter in advance, take it out of the fridge before serving to allow it to soften.

Lemon peel and lemon juice, rosemary, and an olive oil dressing give this a nice lightness. If you prefer a creamy potato salad, use 2/3 cup mayonnaise in place of the olive oil.

Marinated eggplant makes a great antipasto, alone or as part of a larger spread. It also works as an accompaniment to grilled meat and fish. However you serve it, I strongly suggest you make sure to save enough for a sandwich. Country bread with grilled marinated eggplant, prosciutto, and mozzarella—really, really good.

Accompany this salad version of a BLT sandwich with grilled bread.

Try this deliciously smoky side dish with grilled lamb chops.

Fresh and colorful, this vegetarian entrée is an ideal bring-along for a potluck supper. Quinoa, a delicate grain with a texture similar to that of couscous, cooks up in just 15 minutes. A complete protein, it's also nutritious. Look for it at supermarkets and natural foods stores. Smoked paprika can be found in the spice section of the supermarket.

Halloumi, a firm, mild cheese from Cyprus, is sold at some supermarkets and at specialty foods stores, natural foods stores, and Greek markets.

Farofa is the term for a side dish using toasted farinha de mandioca—in English, manioc flour, which is a dried flour similar in looks and texture to breadcrumbs, made from yucca. The making of farofa as a dish couldn't be easier. It is plain manioc flour toasted in butter. A few of the classic farofa dishes include eggs and scallions, eggs and bacon, banana, bell peppers, and dendê oil, green beans and carrots, peas and corn, and so on and so forth. Farofa can be extremely dry, since the manioc flour immediately sucks up all the juices from anything it encounters, especially when it's served plain. The trick to making a moist farofa is to use a small amount of manioc flour in proportion to the other components, turning a side dish into a savory accompaniment that is so tempting, you may even forget there is a main course.

A soft chewy bread roll about the size of a golf ball infused with cheesy flavor, pão de queijo is Brazil's favorite savory snack and an excellent recipe to add to your repertoire.