comfort food ... for anytime
bragu_DSM 5
4 years ago
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CA Kate z9
4 years agoRelated Discussions
Winter comfort food
Comments (35)Speaking of okra, my all time favorite comfort food is gumbo: Seafood Gumbo 1-1/2 pounds okra, sliced into 1/4” thick pieces (fresh or frozen) 2 tbsp canola oil 2 cups chopped celery 1 large onion, finely chopped 1 green bell pepper, finely chopped 4-5 large cloves of garlic, minced 2 tbsp grapeseed oil (or canola or avocado oil) 8 cups water 4 vegetable bouillon cubes or 4 tsp paste 2 tbsp clam or crab soup base, or to taste 2 tbsp butter 2 tbsp canola oil 1/2 cup flour 3-4 bay leaves 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil (or 1 tbsp dried basil) 1-1/2 tsp chopped fresh thyme (or 1 tsp dried thyme) 4 tsp chopped fresh oregano (or 2 tsp dried oregano) 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley (do not substitute dried for this one) 4-6 Thai chili peppers, seeds removed, finely chopped 1 tbsp filé powder 1 10 oz. can chopped tomatoes, drained 1-1/2 pounds King Crab legs (or 1 pound lump crab meat) 1 pound shrimp, shelled and de-veined 1/2 pound bay scallops or clam or oyster meat 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste 4 cups cooked rice Saute the okra in a small amount of oil in an iron skillet for 8 minutes on high heat and then about 7 minutes more on medium heat, or until the stringiness is gone. Set aside. Note: Do not substitute olive oil in this recipe. Saute the celery, onions, bell pepper, and garlic in 2 tbsp oil until the onions are translucent. I usually start the celery first for a few minutes, and then I add the onions and bell pepper and saute those for a couple of minutes and add the garlic last. This way the garlic will not burn and not turn bitter. I saute with the garlic only about 2 minutes. You can then store these on top of the okra. In a large saucepan or stockpot, make a roux with the 1 tbsp butter, 2 tbsp canola oil, and 1/3 cup flour. Cook the roux until it is a deep reddish brown - this will be just a few minutes past the “peanut butter” color stage. Add more oil, if needed. The roux should have the consistency of yogurt and be fairly easy to stir at this point so that you do not burn it. Add the tomatoes and cook until all liquid has been absorbed and the mixture is thickened into a paste. Add the file, basil, oregano, and thyme and cook about 5 minutes more. It will be a very thick paste at this point, similar to a choux or puff paste. Add the water slowly, stirring constantly, and then add the bay leaves and bouillon. Stir until the bouillon has dissolved, and then add the sauteed vegetables, including the okra, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer covered for about 30 minutes. This is a good time to start making the rice. Just before you are ready to serve, add the crab, shrimp, parsley, and scallops, and cook for 5 minutes more, or until the scallops are done. Check the seasoning, and add a dash of cayenne, Tabasco sauce, Chinese Chili Paste if it is not hot enough. It should be slightly salty, as the rice will require a bit of salt, but be careful not to overdo the salt - this will ruin the flavor. You can always add a tiny bit of salt at the table. If you are using precooked shrimp, add them only at the time of serving, and store leftover shrimp separately. Serve in large, deep soup bowls over rice. You may want to offer Tabasco or chili paste for those who want more pepper flavor, but I don’t find this necessary. If you use Thai chili peppers, it will be hot enough. If you use milder peppers, you may have to increase the quantity or you can leave the seeds in. When I make quantities that I expect to freeze, I always store the leftovers in individual containers of whatever amount I want to reheat at one time. Gumbo can be reheated once, but not twice. Yield: 4 quarts, or 8 large (2 cup) servings, not including rice Lars...See MoreWeek: 31 Comfort foods or comfort memories?
Comments (33)And Happy New Year back at'cha! Wish you all the best in these next months. :) Pit Update: Saturday a friend of a friend came and took both of them. She's mature, got a good job, owns her home with a big yard. She's keeping Bobby (aka puppy-boy) and her neighbor is taking sweet Maggie (aka puppy girl). These were the happiest, sweet dogs. Turned out to be clean, trained, house broken, curious, and just joyful. Someone dumped them, I'm sure, but they were house dogs. Perhaps breeders, but definitely house dogs. It was interesting. All the time they were here, they never left the yard. When I went out, they were right beside me. Bobby, would play catch with a 6' 4x4. Throwing it in the air, standing on it and trying to pick it up. Made it difficult for me to sort out a load of reused lumber, which had nails in it. It had to wait. He was a JOY. What a energetic puppy he was. He'd sit and kinda roll backwards with his feet stuck out in front of him, like puppies do. Didn't quite lift his leg. Hasn't earned his man card yet. Although they always wanted to ride in my car, they didn't want to go with her. (Leaving me? Awwww) But once in the car, they settled in, with their heads poking out between the seats to look out the window. The only time I'd see Maggie get excited was when wheels turned. Cars, trucks, bikes. She'd bite at them from underneath the door, vs. from the front. Scared me she'd get a tooth stuck and be crushed. I mention this, because the week before I had to get 2 new tires. Saturday night when I came out of work, I had a flat. Grrrrr. Had myself towed to my car place. He called me the next morning and asked if I'd hit anything, or was out in the field, etc. [wait for it] There were 2 puncture marks, one torn, in the sidewall of my new tire. So.... I guess Maggie is successful in her mission of killing All Things Tire. Got my living room painted. It is Beeeuuuuttiful. Even moreso without the crap stacked to the ceiling. Ceiling is Glidden 'Natural Wicker' and the walls are Duron/SW 'Tinderbox.' I just picked up the paint for the bookshelves. All this room needs is trim. and maybe some curtains. Well, maybe not. So I have 2 rooms done, -trim. This is very, very exciting! Leaves 7 rooms to go. Drywall, finishing, paint, trim. As a dear friend once said, "Baby Steps." Well, it's only 10 years this year from that stupid fire! Baby enough? Have a great, warm day. Eat those beans and rice if that's your thing, or just watch football. (Got my MI State U sweat shirt on, just for my sisters.) Take care!...See MoreGo-to healthy comfort food?
Comments (26)I'm kind of the opposite of some of you. I've got issues with apples and rice, and minor issues with eggs and beans unless they're in combination with some other things; eggs are fine if have a lot of salt or fruit (e.g. pineapple) added. Soup isn't comfort food for me (and I'm really not sure if I could survive on it alone for very long—at least with much energy and feeling of wellbeing); same for legumes, unless maybe they're peanuts, black-eyed peas, or in the form of something like chili or burritos. I'd say the following could be restorative foods for me (most of them are ingredients rather than dishes, but I did list at least a couple dishes): White mulberries (they're pretty healthy, IMO—at least in moderation; they have a lot of health benefits) Chives and/or green onions and/or to a lesser extend regular onions Home-grown produce Watermelon Baked, seasoned vegetables (ideally with meat in the middle) Cabbage Frozen corn (cooked so it's no longer frozen) Raw zucchini (and other squash, whether or not they're raw, particularly if they're prepared how I like them) Armenian cucumbers Homemade biscuits (with oil—not butter, lard, etc.) Cornbread (just corn for the grains; baked in a cast-iron frying pan) Tomatoes (Yes, I'm one of those people who thinks they're actually good for you unless you're allergic or something) Mushrooms (these have a lot of nutrition, and flavor) Garlic and/or garlic chives Peppers (hot and sweet; hot peppers are great for making a person feel better, in some circumstances) Millet (millet biscuits and stuff taste really good, and it doesn't give me the issues that rice gives me) Raw sorrel (I find that it seems to strengthen my teeth) Lacto-fermented vegetables, chile sauce, etc. (these are quite nutritious and important) Pickling/canning salt (Yes, I'm one of those people who thinks that sodium can actually be good for you—especially if you have adrenal fatigue or something; pickling/canning salt feels especially healthy to me, however; I'm not partial to unrefined sea salt) Cranberries (they're good for your bladder) Ground cherries Organic oranges Milk thistle (leaves or seeds) Food grade diatomaceous earth (this isn't really food, but it's helpful for me, in moderation, from a nutritional standpoint, and improves the flavor of some foods) Milk (maybe not the least toxic thing out there if you don't have your own cow, but the nutrients in it seem very helpful nonetheless; it definitely helps me to sleep, too—and it doesn't have to be warm) Raw rhubarb (full of vitamin K; the oxalic acid is supposed to be less healthy when rhubarb is cooked, but when raw, it's said to help purify your blood and stuff) Vinegar (yes, it seems healthy to me for some reason; maybe not everyone agrees) Pineapple Coarsely ground grains (they feel so much more energizing than finely ground grains; don't ask me why) Carbonation (in moderation; I'm not advocating corn syrup, phosphoric acid, etc.; you can carbonate your own stuff with dry ice if you need to avoid sugar or processed drinks) Milk porridge (in moderation) Pickles Curry Natural brown cane sugar (in combination with other things; it seems to produce a vapor that seems to be absent in both white sugar and molasses, for unexplained reasons, and this vapor seems to have several benefits; it's great in milk porridge, baked goods, baked goods that use baking soda instead of baking powder wherein the brown sugar is to neutralize the baking soda taste, etc.) Radishes Gelatin desserts / fruit gels (I'm trying to avoid using trademarks here. :))...See MoreComfort food
Comments (8)Beautiful food as always, dcarch! Ummmm...is everybody going to hate me if I said last week I was in the Napa Valley, eating lunch outdoors on the patio of Auberge du Soleil restaurant at the Auberge resort in Rutherford? I seldom drink any longer so NV isn't our favorite destination, but we go at least once or twice a year. And we always try to eat lunch at AdS, which is one of the few, if not the only, view restaurants in the SF Bay Area with excellent food. Weirdly, out of 5 days every single day was cold and/or rainy - except for the Tuesday. It was 70 degrees and just like this photo (from Auberge's website courtesy of Google Images), which is the view from the patio: Auberge looks due west, over the Valley. The mountains you see are what divides the Napa and Sonoma Valleys. But I'll bet dcarch's food was every bit as good-tasting as Auberge's! We love cauliflower; I usually slow roast it and those browned edges are as good as candy....See Morelindac92
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