3 Colorful, Vegetarian Mexican Side Dishes Perfect for Your Next Cookout
Bricia Lopez is the reigning queen of Neo-Angeleno Mexican grilling. Here she shows us how to make stellar simple sides from her new book, Asada.
All food images Excerpted from Asada: The Art of Mexican Style Grilling by Bricia Lopez and Javier Cabral. Copyright © 2023 by Bricia Lopez and Javier Cabral. Photos copyright © 2023 by Quentin Bacon. Published by Abrams.
Bricia Lopez is a culinary force in Los Angeles: As a co-owner of the James Beard Award–winning Oaxacan restaurant Guelaguetza, she helped turn its mezcal-and-tequila program into one of the best in a city known for its love of agave-based spirits. She runs I Love Micheladas, a michelada-mix company that hawks its drinks out of a lime-green vintage VW microbus outfitted with beer taps. And she’s the author of two cookbooks, Oaxaca: Home Cooking From the Heart of Mexico and now Asada: the Art of Mexican-Style Grilling. Here Lopez shares the techniques, tools, and recipes for the meat, the sides, the drinks, and above all the magic of the art of grilling Angeleno-Mexican style. Co-written with Javier Cabral, editor of the excellent taco-focused website LAtaco.com, it’s a delicious survey of the celebratory Mexican food that embodies summer in L.A.
Photo by Jose Fuentes
Yes, there’s sizzling carne asada, as well as marinated meat and fish and bracing salsas and sides. In this excerpt, we focus on the latter, as grill masters from every tradition know that a truly great cookout is as much about the side dishes as it is the meat. They’re the unsung heroes that give the meal peaks and valleys of texture and flavor, playing counterpoint to the smoky meats, resetting the palate for another bite, and satisfying the non-meat-eaters. Below, you’ll find a minimalist taco that’s all about perfect ingredients, a fruit salad that pays homage to street cart operators, and a cactus salad we’ll be putting on regular rotation at our parties all summer long.
Bricia Lopez’s Best Vegetarian Mexican Side Dishes
Frutero Salad
Driving or walking around Los Angeles, you will notice fruit vendors who set up shop in corners around every neighborhood of the city. I do love how they dress their ripe fruit: lime juice, salt, and chile powder. This recipe makes a street-style fruit salad and is easy to have ready for guests.
Ensalada de Nopalitos
A carne asada is a very salad-friendly affair. All the piles of grilled meat beg for some crisp vegetables to eat them with. If you are only going to offer one salad, this is the one to make. Instead of boiling or grilling nopales, they are cured in salt, which maintains the limelike tartness that these cacti offer and their vibrant green color as well.
Get the Book!
Asada: The Art of Mexican Style Grilling by Bricia Lopez and Javier Cabral. Copyright © 2023 by Bricia Lopez and Javier Cabral. Photos copyright © 2023 by Quentin Bacon. Published by Abrams.
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