Open Thread - Wednesday June 17, 2015
I am on vacation this week and will not be able to participate in this Open Thread so I decided to keep this Open thread very benign.
Because I will not be around to diary tend today, it might be a good time to post a diary on comfort foods. I suppose everyone has his or her own definition of what constitutes a comfort food. And not surprisingly, Wikipedia has an entry on comfort foods with a list of various comfort foods from different countries and cultures. Generally, I think of comfort foods as those that are relatively simple but give us a great sense of well being and/or great comraderie when eating them with others. Several of my own favorites appear on the list in the Wikipedia article.
In my own house, three of my favorites involve long slow cooking, including one for which I have provided a recipe below. It is a wonder how we ever lived before the invention of the crock pot or electric slow cooker. When I researched the origin of the crock pot, I was shocked to find that this appliance has only been around for about 44 years. I do not remember how or when I got my first crock pot, but I noticed that the removable ceramic insert was introduced in 1974. That means that my original crock pot that I still use is a bonified antique because it does not have the removable insert. And it still works great!
Below is a recipe that I got from my mother many years ago. She got it from a friend and I suspect that it may have been one of those test kitchen recipes because it is so simple and yet incredibly delicious. My mother always cooked her version in the oven, but I do mine in the crock pot. Why not? It is such an easy way to cook one of my favorite comfort foods.
Father Corey's Stew (no one knows who Father Corey is, by the way)
2 lbs stew meat with fat cut off (or, a boneless chuck roast)
4 large carrots (I often use more because we love carrots)
1 medium onion
2 large stalks of celery
4 medium potatoes (I prefer baking potatoes)
1/2 cup cooking sherry
1 8oz can tomato sauce
1 can (6oz?) of Dawn Fresh mushroom steak sauce (can be found either with the canned mushrooms or in the sauces area of the grocery store)
Rough cut all vegetables into fairly large pieces. Then layer ingredients in crock pot in the following order, starting with the bottom. Meat, then pour sherry over meat. Add in order, carrots, onion, celery, and potatoes. Mix tomato sauce and Dawn Fresh mushroom steak sauce together in a bowl and pour over the top. Cover and cook at least four hours. I prefer to cook this six hours. Then serve with crusty bread and a salad.
This is one of my favorite comfort foods. What are yours? And what else is on your mind this morning?
Comments
My favorite comfort food is Revolution Pie.
You put in the following ingredients:
Anger
Frustration
Determination
Ethics
Morality
Common Sense
Millions of People
Absolutely do not add:
Democratic party
Republican party
Politicians
Think tanks
Faux liberals and progressives
Daily Kos
And above all:
No Compromise!
Mix together ingredients and enjoy.
Over at Daily Kos
"Would Jeb Bush have invaded Iraq?" And vote for Hillary because she only voted for it.
Morning Al...
Did you get your trenches dug, find any gold?
Morning JtC Ya, got them dug out. Need
to get them a tad deeper and level then we're good to go. I can barely move this morning and I have a full day of
work to do out there including a lot more shoveling. Getting too old for this shit.
No gold though, just a bunch of run of the mill rocks.
I was born too old for that kind of work
It's a shitty job, but someone has to do it.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Ultimate comfort food
I love macaroni and cheese.
Ingredients:
1 pound of cheese (Use good cheese, but buy whatever is on sale. I usually go for a sharp or super sharp cheddar.)
A 16 oz box of macaroni
One cup of dairy (I use light or heavy cream; you can use milk or skim, but I recommend no less than half and half)
Boil the noodles.
Mix the cooked noodles, 90% of the cheese and the cream in a large bowl.
Spray a large covered casserole with no stick (I use the baking one with flour)
Dump the mixed ingredients into the casserole, spread the remaining cheese on top, dribble a little cream or milk around the perimeter cover and bake. The temperature doesn't matter that much. Whatever temperature the ribs, ham or meatloaf are using.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
my
current fave macaroni and cheese recipe is a stovetop version. It goes like this:
12 ounces evaporated milk
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon Bufalo salsa chipotle
quarter teaspoon salt
half teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dry mustard dissolved in 1 teaspoon water
half pound elbow macaroni
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
12 ounces (at least) Tillamook extra-sharp cheddar cheese
In a bowl beat a little the eggs and then mix with 1 cup of the evaporated milk, salsa chipotle, salt, black pepper, and mustard mix.
Grate the cheese.
Cook macaroni. Drain and return to pot.
Add butter to noodles and toss to melt. Pour egg mix over noodles; add 3/4 of the grated cheese. Stir to melt. Gradually add the remaining milk and cheese. Stir till everybody's all melted together. Eat. Then you'll need to lay down. ; 0
I just had for breakfast Real and True fettuccine alfredo, concocted by Alfredo di Lellio in Rome in 1920.
1 pound fettuccine, fresh
1 stick unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1 massively heaping cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano
fresh ground black pepper to taste
Cook the fettuccine in a pot of boiling salted water.
Meanwhile, combine the butter & cheese in a bowl.
Drain pasta, add to bowl, and toss. Mix in pepper and serve.
That's it. ; )
Good stuff
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
hungry now ... :-) /nt
https://www.euronews.com/live
Wonder what her dailykos name is.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Sounds like a cracked pot
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
Comfort food #2
Boil 4-5 decent size sweet potatoes, in their skins. About an hour on a slow boil.
Drain, slit the sweet potatoes and remove the skin. Place in a mixing bowl.
Dump in a can of crushed pineapples, a couple of table spoons of pumpkin pie spice (pumpkin pie spice = cinnamon, nutmeg, all spice, cloves), brown sugar to your preference (1/4 cup). Dump into buttered casserole, cover and bake. Temperature doesn't matter. Same as the turkey, ham, ....
Depending on the bake time, they may have excess pineapple juice. Just use a spoon with holes to serve. Store with the juice. Microwaves great.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
finally a recipe for sweet potatoes - I'll try it out- amazing
to mix it with pineapples. Sounds sweet, fruity and as if it would warm up the stomach and cuddle it.
https://www.euronews.com/live
sweet potatoes with pineapple!
Now why didn't I think of that. A toasted pecans on the top might be good also.
yum!
Never be deceived that the rich will allow you to vote away their wealth.-Lucy Parsons
sounds
pretty dern Hawaiian, sweet potatoes with pineapple. Are you perhaps an island person? ; )
Starting a batch as soon as I get off the computer
Ingredients:
~1 pound of sirloin tips
3 pound bag of Vidalia onions
Box of beef broth
Garlic powder or minced garlic
Start the beef tips simmering in a large stock pot.
Peel and cut up the onions. You can just add them as you cut them.
Add beef broth, only up to about an inch below the top of the onions. Add the garlic.
Simmer for about four hours.
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
...
The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. - Friedrich Nietzsche -
!
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06hB4oep4XY]