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side dish

Pimento Cheese Squash Casserole

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Oh hell yes. 

Hi! How was your weekend? We had a great one, including being at home with Beck all day Saturday and not leaving the house. We did yard work, hung some remnants back on the walls from the construction on our house, watched TWO movies, and cooked a boat-load, which was fun but also a benefit to eating out on the weekends means the kitchen isn’t so ridiculously dirty all of the time. Cue me spending Monday undoing our all-at-home weekend. 

So this casserole. This time of year we seem to find ourselves with tons of squash and zucchini, all of the time. My grandparents grow it, it is super cheap at the farmer’s market, cooks quickly, lasts for awhile in the fridge, reason after reason to keep it around at all times. Mostly we saute it with onions and salt and pepper for a quick dinner veg, but sometimes, especially when we have a ton of it, we need to go old-school and decadent, you know? This is that. It’s definitely a vegetable and definitely vegetarian, but other than that I’m not going to scream at you about health benefits. 

This casserole is made on the stovetop and includes almost all of the seasonings from my favorite pimento cheese and traditional squash casserole. Ritz crackers are a must for topping, and you can bake the casserole for a few minutes and eat it immediately or keep it in the fridge for a few days and heat it up for dinner one night this week. Make-ahead friendly!

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Momofuku’s Pan-Roasted Brussels Sprouts w/ Vinaigrette

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I almost hesitate to tell you what kind of vinaigrette because half of the earth will immediately be like EW GROSS NO X OUT. 

Because, folks, the utter magic of this dish comes from a heavy hand of fish sauce, which I’m perfectly aware freaks people out, even though I don’t pretend to understand why. I think most fear is really just fear of the unknown, though, so if you get to know fish sauce, you will love it and not be scared of it. Boom. 

The fish sauce in this application alllmost acts like soy sauce, just a salty earthy umami flavor, not fishy at all, similar to Caesar dressing which gets its flavor from anchovy but doesn’t taste like fish either. The dressing here also features garlic, hot peppers, and lime juice, and the huge punch of flavor with the stinky-in-a-good-way Brussels is absolutely wonderful. 

The Brussels sprouts, for their part, are cooked half in the skillet half in the oven, super quickly, to get some crispy edges + tender but not mushy insides. The sprouts get dark at the edges and bright green throughout, and tons of fresh herbs add to the brightness of the flavors. 

My friend Emily introduced me to this dish, and I’ve made it three times in as many months, which is a lot for us because we cook a bunch of different things AND like Brussels lots of different ways. The last time I made these I actually had leftover dressing and sprouts so the next day I shredded the Brussels on my mandoline and tossed them raw with some of the leftover dressing, and they were GOBBLED up. I may have liked them more than the cooked version of the recipe, I honestly can’t tell. 

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Simple Pan-Seared Parmesan Brussels

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Five ingredients, 20 minutes, perfect side dish, boom. 

But let’s back up. I went to brunch at this new hipster place recently for a friend’s birthday, and it was …. predictably brunchy yet good. Beermosas, runny eggs on everything (no thanks), and the promise that “if you like this you should come back for dinner,” which I totally want to because I don’t like eggs. Make no mistake, the brunch itself was fabulous, I was child-free, the conversation was amazing, and we ordered some dish that included fried Parmesan Brussels sprouts as a base to a grit cake and a poached egg. My friend (we were sharing) got the whole egg, I got extra sprouts, all was right with the world. 

The gist was this: the Brussels were definitely fried, but then tossed in COPIOUS amounts of Parm after the cooking process, so there was this great contrast between the cooked veggie and shredded cheese, which I loved. For this method, I did a pan-sear + oven cook to avoid the fat and stink of frying. The result is similar but healthier, and extra parm and crushed red pepper over everything makes this our new favorite way to eat Brussels. You will need an oven-safe skillet, usually cast iron or stainless steel, but I have some nonstick skillets that can be in the oven at high temperatures, so there are lots of options for cooking this dish. 

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Easy Asparagus Casserole

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Super easy asparagus casserole that comes together in just a few steps. This is perfect for Thanksgiving, Easter, or any meal that needs a yummy low carb side dish! This is one of funnylove’s most popular recipes with over 30k likes, shares, and saves!

Thanksgiving is three weeks away, can we talk about that? 

We are having two big meals this year, one at our house and one at my parents’. We get to see both families, cook some and eat some, and I.Can’t.Wait. 

So we need to start prepping! It still feels like a long way away but….three weeks is not long, guys. Not long in the slightest. I’ll make a huge long list of my favorite Thanksgiving sides in the next week or two, but let’s start with a new one that has the BEST flavors and is super simple. Asparagus casserole! The fancy feeling of a veg that isn’t green beans with the comfort of cheese and Ritz crackers. 

Also there is mayonnaise in here and I don’t want to hear a thing about it, it tastes delicious and you 100% will not know it is in there, mayo-haters. I see you, I validate you (I’m kidding, this isn’t a mental health issue), but trust me the flavor added is a good one, and the texture is important. 

The total best thing about this is that we throw the asparagus in RAW so it cooks and softens in the oven but doesn’t get brown and mushy, thanks but no thanks. I also found some vintage asparagus casserole recipes that include hard boiled eggs? No. Not happening. I don’t like them and also it sounded weird. But, if you’re into hard boiled eggs, throw some chopped on top of the ‘role. Let me know how it is. 

Here’s our first Thanksgiving plan! Definitely yes, is my thought. 

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Oyster Mushrooms Rockefeller

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Oyster Mushrooms Rockefeller is the most delicious vegetarian version of traditional oysters Rockefeller. Toasty, slightly-slimy mushrooms, garlicky, butery spinach, and crispy bread crumbs on top. This is a lovely side dish but also really nice on toast for an appetizer or lunch.

Oyster Mushrooms Rockefeller Recipe from funnyloveblog.com

FINALLY VEGETARIANS CAN HAVE SOMETHING SLIMY TOO!  

I know, you’re welcome.  

So, if you’ve been reading for any length of time you know that Jay hates all mushrooms except for oyster mushrooms.  He says I spend too much on purses, and I’m like THEY’RE ALL THE SAME STOP BEING SNOOTY.  But also I love mushrooms and if this is the only kind I can get it’s not…a dealbreaker, you know?  Not at all.  Jay also loves oysters and, if I’m being honest, I can eat maybe 2 before I’m totally done.  I like the flavor, don’t mind the slime, but I have a fear of seafood grit aka dirt aka sand in my food.  If I get one teensy gritty feeling between my teeth I am DONE for the entire meal.  

I have no clue how to avoid grit in seafood.  I buy it at good places, I clean it how I think you’re supposed to.  Mussels to me are the worst offenders.  What am I missing?  

So, we made Oysters Rockefeller, but with a big hunk of local mushrooms we found.  They’re pretty classic – butter, spinach, parsley, garlic, bread crumbs and parm.  The mushrooms get roasted the in the drippings from the garlic (garlic butter, guys, garlic butter), and it’s a side dish, salad, appetizer (over bread duh), or lunch.  You pick!

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