A Taste of Comfort
Food that nourishes both body and soul
Guest Post by Amy Barbato
Comfort Food: the words themselves elicit nurturing feelings of contentment and joy. Inspired by several Food Network shows devoted to this topic, I found myself contemplating what it is about the concept that speaks to so many of us in similar ways. I watched as the TV cooks blissfully shared their own favorites, many of which were attached to family memories and cultural connections. From decadent mac ‘n’ cheese to wintery stews to warm, sticky toffee pudding, these recipes are often of the rich and hearty kind that stick to your ribs, while soothing your spirit.
Certainly, an abundance of only these lush foods is not what we turn to for our daily aspirations of a balanced diet and weight management. However, they remind us that food is not the enemy — its purpose is to nurture and sustain us. We’re not talking about mindless, emotional eating here. Rather, these recipes, which are often linked to memories of home and hearth, are the occasional indulgence that connects us to our heritage and feeds our soul. It was when Nigella Lawson shared her favorite, her mom’s Warmed Sugared Bread in Milk, that I saw how even the simplest, and most pedestrian of recipes, can be overflowing with love.
This brought to mind my own favorite “go-to” comfort food, my mom’s Pasta Fagioli. This is a simple, rustic, “peasant dish” of Italian heritage, consisting of olive oil, garlic, tomato sauce, white beans, and small cut pasta — topped off with fresh, grated cheese. The consistency is somewhere between a soup and a stew, or what TV cook Rachel Ray calls a “stoup”. While inexpensive and easy to make, this dish is hearty and, for me, full of home and love.
March 14th, 2010 at 10:37 pm
One comfort food that I can recall from my childhood is Nana Blanche’s homemade bread. It was a brown bread that was loaded with molasses. We never made sandwiches with it. It was always cut it into 1″ thick pieces and used for toast. After it was toasted, it was then drowned in butter and served. This toast was so good that it would melt in your mouth…and stick to your ribs too. As kids, my brothers and I would line up at the toaster and fight over who got to toast the bread first. Luckily, Nana Blanche was sure to make several loaves!
My other comfort food also came from Nana Blanche. This one was her apple pie…the best I ever tasted. It was always cooked to perfection, and as it was warmed up, the sweet aroma of baked apples and cinnamon would fill the house. The best part was the delicious, flaky crust. Each heaping forkful would melt in my mouth. I was always sure to eat it really slow so that I could savor every scrumptious bite.
Nana Blanche is gone now. She died about 15 years ago, but her culinary masterpieces live on in our memories. Her legendary apple pie is still talked about at our family gatherings. Fortunately, my oldest brother watched her make the bread and wrote down the recipe. He makes the bread on holidays, and it always brings back wonderful childhood memories.
March 15th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
Plum pudding is a comfort food that brings back fond childhood memories. When I was a kid, it was a special Christmas dessert. This was the old fashioned, labor intensive version of the confection. I remember it as being very rich and extremely filling. The steamed pudding was loaded with raisins, currants, a soft cake-like bread, and lots of molasses. It was served warm with a hard sauce and a lemon sauce. The hard sauce was a sweet, buttery sauce that had to be scooped like ice cream. The lemon sauce was sweet and syrupy.
I do have the recipe, though I have only made it once. While it was pretty close to what I remembered, it took a lot of work ( several hours of steaming). Nonetheless, I really enjoyed having it again and being able to serve it to my own family. Thanks for reviving this memory – I’m thinking of trying it next holiday season!
March 16th, 2010 at 7:51 pm
There are two types of food that, whenever I cook or eat them, define “comfort food” for me. The first is nearly any dish that begins with sauteing onions and garlic; mainly this is tomato sauce, but anything that is built on that base just feels like “real” cooking and is automatically comforting. I think this is because tomato sauce is the first real meal I ever cooked on my own.
The second is any dish that combines beans and greens. I’m truly not sure why, as I only began eating it in my 30s. However, there is something just so wholesome and complete about the combination that it leaves me feeling great. This is the case even when it is my favorite pane cotto recipe, which includes pancetta, bread and cheese, not exactly wholesome ingredients!