After a balmy-verging-on-subtropical Christmas season, the temperatures have finally dropped. I didn’t feel much like fa-la-la-la-la-ing while cherry blossoms were popping out and daffodil were sending tremulous green fingerlings up through the soil in sunny corners of the neighbors’ gardens. The Chesapeake Bay is freezing in spots. Things are looking cold! And now that the frantic and festive holidays are behind us, we can cozy up on the sofa under a wool blanket with the latest Kate Atkinson, while we wait for the new X-Files to begin.
I have been thinking a lot about comfort food, in my own limited Nigella fashion. Warm and slow, aromatic and familiar. And easy – no recipes, please. The fact that there will be leftovers is always the key to my heart – meatloaf tonight means a meatloaf sandwich tomorrow. Chicken parm tonight equals a bowl of leftover spaghetti for lunch tomorrow. Quid pro quo. Deus ex machina. It really boils down to the fact that I would rather not hunt and gather too many original meals. Leftovers cunningly packaged up in the fridge will be a wondrous by-product of the redolent aroma of beef stew wafting around and through the kitchen dust motes this afternoon. A hot, savory bowl of beef stew tonight, and tomorrow as well. Life is grand!
Now that the warm weather has evaporated, it is time to dust off some old favorites. It had been such a long time since I last made beef stroganoff that I had to look up a recipe. I relied on our friends at Food52 for their Skillet Beef Stroganoff recipe, although I altered it just slightly. I don’t care for mushrooms, so we fried up a small pan’s worth for Mr. Friday to add to his plate. I also omitted the brandy – because all we had was bourbon, and I cannot imagine bourbon-infused egg noodles. I’ll put it to the shopping list for next time. https://food52.com/recipes/14024-skillet-beef-stroganoff
I laugh at the Epicurious suggestion that says their beef stroganoff is a dish that can (and should!) be prepared in front of company – watching me dredge small chunks of meat and browning them for the roar of peer approval seems a little farfetched. But if you come back later this afternoon I will be painting, and you are welcome to watch it dry… Still, the folks at Epicurious are wise in their kitchen ways and you might prefer this version. https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/beef-stroganoff-102134 It includes lots of paprika, which is a colorful addition, and the crowd might enjoy your artistic flaying about the kitchen.
A household staple of our youth was meatloaf. We have two ways to make meatloaf in our house – my mother’s recipe, and Mr. Friday’s mother’s recipe. The basic difference is that my mother’s calls for chopped raw onion and crushed Saltine crackers. Irene’s uses onion soup mix, bread crumbs and catsup. You know that Erma Bombeck and Peg Bracken are smiling down at us, don’t you?
I am sure you have a couple of family recipes yourself, so dust them off, and have a warm nostalgic dinner. You’ll thank me when you pull your meatloaf sandwich out of its Baggie at lunch tomorrow. It will fling you back to your fifth grade lunch period self when Susan Fricker is bound to torture you. Add a cardboard carton of warm milk and a crusty pre-sectioned, room temperature orange to to complete your flashback. Here is a crib sheet in case you have forgotten something crucial: https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/mom-s-meat-loaf
And here to jog your memory is some beef stew advice from Paula Deen: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/old-time-beef-stew-recipe.html
“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.”
― Edith Sitwell
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