Side

Corn and flour tortillas are a staple in our home. They are eaten with every meal and used in many different recipes. The tortilla is to San Antonio as the bagel is to New York. It is the third utensil: the knife, the fork, and the tortilla! Serve these with butter, and use them to mop up the flavorful sauces on your plate.

Making tortillas from scratch can be a lot of fun, but it can also be a little frustrating. My eleven-year-old son, Jordan, rolls his tortillas out into perfect circles, but mine end up looking like the state of Texas! Don't give up if they don't come out right on the first try. Once you get the hang of them, everyone will be asking for more. These will keep, well wrapped, for up to 1 week in the refrigerator and up to 2 months in the freezer.

This recipe came from my great-great grandmother, who was born in Alsace Lorraine. The version here is a little different from the way it appears in my book, Cherries in Winter: My Family's Recipe for Hope in Hard Times; apparently my ancestors liked the dressing really sweet, but I found I needed less than a quarter cup of sugar. Play around with it to see what you like best. Also, they put the onions in at the end to let the potatoes steam them through, but I like cooking them with the bacon to bring out their more subtle flavor.

I know what you're thinking. Bananas? Trust me. It's a little trick I picked up from my nights in the kitchen at the famous Le Cirque, in Manhattan. I don't always reveal my secret ingredient, and most people can't put their fingers on what exactly makes this sweet potato recipe so good. But every one loves them. Of course, some heavy cream, butter, and brown sugar doesn't hurt.

I understand why Brussels sprouts top the list of detested vegetables for many people. When they are large, old, or overcooked, they tend to have an obnoxious, barnyardy flavor that some people are sensitive to whereas others are not. You can minimize this by choosing smaller, fresh-looking sprouts and cooking them just until they are crunchy-tender and bright colored. (Do not use frozen sprouts.) The secret of this dish is balancing ingredients to mellow the strong flavor of these miniature cabbages. Olive oil, garlic, red pepper, Parmesan, and, especially, nutmeg do the trick admirably.

You'll love this colorful, summery salad. The benefits can't be beat: Antioxidants in many orange veggies may lower your cardiovascular disease risk by up to 20 percent.

What a fantastic barbecue side: It's juicy, crunchy, and bright enough to provide delicious relief even from your richest dishes, and substantial enough to stand in for starchy sides like potatoes. I add a ton of marjoram and dill, but chives and basil taste amazing, too.

This one's a backyard party classic that I've put a new spin on. To protect those delicate, sugar-sweet kernels, I grill each cob in its husk. Then toward the end of cooking, I peel the husk back and let the corn develop just a bit of tasty char. As if this weren't lovely enough, I bring it all up a notch with a cilantro pesto (use basil or parsley if you prefer) and plenty of butter.

After these plump up from a quick brine, and cook in their shells, they'll eat more like peel-and-eat lobster tails than plain old shrimp. Serve this alongside grilled steak, and it'll be not only a great respite from the meat's richness, but it'll give you a surf-and-turf experience, which for me was one of the most exciting things to get at a restaurant when I was little.

For Donatella, fava beans were an acquired taste. "When I was a child, I hated them," she says. She’s come around to the hearty, healthy bean and has always been a fan of dandelion greens, an ingredient that many Italians believe calms the stomach. Timing note: The favas need to soak overnight.

These vegetables are served as an on-table condiment at Chez Navarre. They are also great served side by side on their own or with beef or pork.

Quinoa, a grain with a texture like that of couscous, is sold at natural food stores. Serve this side dish with lime wedges.

Thai papaya salad is an ideal summer side dish and packs up well if you want to take it with you.

There are a thousand and one recipes for this easy staple of outdoor cooking, and it feels like I've tried all of them. But none quite match up to this one. After you've charred the peppers on the grill, you just pop them in a resealable plastic bag until you can slide the skins right off. Then you submerge them in a mixture of olive oil, vinegar, and garlic until they pick up a bit of tang. These will last a week in the fridge, but I bet you'll finish them before then.

This rich, creamy gratin of beautiful white asparagus wrapped in a cozy blanket is delicious paired with a simple roast chicken. A leafy green salad—tossed with a dressing that has a note of acidity—is the only other accompaniment you need. Alternatively, you can serve this gratin as it is, with some warm bread to mop up the sauce and, perhaps, some finely sliced porcini mushrooms on the side, dressed with no more than beautiful olive oil, sea salt, and black pepper.

These small flatbreads serve the same purpose as bread sticks. They are crisp and flaky, and because of the olive oil (use your finest) and salty edge can easily be addictive. Based on centuries-old tortas de aceite, they are the specialty of young chef Enrique Dacosta, whose restaurant Poblet in Denia, Alicante, is the best regarded in the region. They are great with tapas. Instead of making bread dough for this recipe, I simplify by buying pizza dough from my local pizzeria, and the results are excellent.

Potato latkes are really just potato kugel in pancake form.