Give me your quick comfort food recipes. (Or even just quick 'uns.)

Cafe Society
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We are watching the Canadian version of the awesome Channel4 series Come Dine With Me (in which a selection of ordinary folk take turns hosting dinner parties and then rate each other for a modest cash prize) and last night got me on this subject.

Last night’s host provided the most improbable of appies - a trick of his grandmother’s called a “pig in a pokie.” This turned out to be a take on “mushy peas” served on toast and topped with prosciutto and parmigiano reggiano, and went over better than one would expect, given the description.

As it happens, last night was the first time that I’d served my wife a similarly-conceived and -inherited “dinner in a hurry” solution, as a consequence of arriving home ravenous after some after-work errands and not having the poop left to put on a proper supper or the patience to put off eating for long enough, either.

This was shrimp on toast, something I haven’t eaten in many years. Usually I’ll put a proper feed on and for the rare time when there just isn’t time or energy, we’ll get take-away. I am happy to say that it’s been a while since I’ve experienced another circumstance that used to make this an attractive meal option: insufficient funds to keep the pantry stocked.

Shrimp on toast requires little in the way of ingredients, is forgiving with variation, whips up in a hurry, and is actually pretty savoury, if you aren’t too proud. :slight_smile:

quantities are approximate - I’ve never actually measured when making this

[INDENT]2 tablespoons butter
1/2 clove garlic
2 tablesspoons flour
2 cups of milk
1/2 cup frozen peas
cooked shrimp
salt & pepper to taste (I used montreal-style steak spice.)
4-8 slices of bread,

Melt the butter in a sauce pan over low heat. Sautée the garlic for a couple minutes. Stir in the flour to make a roux. (Give the flour a little time to open up in the butter, you may want to take it off the heat to avoid scorching) Add the milk a little at the time, stirring constantly. Add the peas and seasoning, allow to cook for 6-7 minutes, stirring regularly. Add the shrimp. Toast the bread. To serve, put a slice of toast on a plate, and ladle a little of the shrimp sauce onto it - just enough to moisten it. Repeat this until you’ve got as many slice as you want on the plate, and then liberally cover with sauce. [/INDENT]
Not something I would ever serve guests, and I felt the need to apologize to my wife for serving her a pofolk meal, but honestly it’s pretty tasty and strangely comforting. (Went over well with our two-year-old, too.)

Anyway, last night we also resolved to provide said two-year-old with a smaller sibling to boss around at the earliest, so I figure now might be a good time to assemble some similar meal ideas, as I expect time & other resources may get a little scarcer going forward. :smiley:

Whaddya got?

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You’re getting your Ruby a Max? Cool.

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Didn’t that shrimp on toast used to be called Shrimp Wiggle? Popular decades ago, the go-to recipe for young ladies who owned a chafing dish?

Your idea of poor folk’s comfort food and mine are diametrically opposed, you would shudder to read about mine.

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Come to think of it, I don’t think I have ever heard it called anything, until I called it “shrimp on toast” yesterday, for lack of anything better to call it. Google confirms that it is indeed called “Shrimp Wiggle,” and that it is a Maine recipe that dates from the '30s. This makes sense for one of “grandma’s recipes” – my folks are from Aroostook Junction, New Brunswick - a railroad town immediately across the U.S.A./Canada border from Aroostook County, Maine. (CN pulled out of there some time ago - I understand that the current population is ~300.)

Try me! When I read “Jubal Harshaw”'s depression-era recipe in Stranger in a Strange Land (which I’m certain was included only to remind readers younger than Heinlein that they were fortunate to have missed the depression) rather than simply blanche and read on, I tried it out in the kitchen and ate it all up. (I can admit that once was enough, though.) The ingredients in Heinlein’s recipe were bread, pan drippings, and paprika, and for damn sure it gives the impression of “the dirty thirties” more than Shrimp Wiggle ever will. :slight_smile:

Yeah! Though I suppose part of the idea is to try to keep their ages a little closer together than that… The youngest of my siblings was 9 years older than me, and they seemed pretty much like adults to me. Even when they were basically using me as an animated doll. Eesh. Girls. :stuck_out_tongue:

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Toasted cheese and vegemite/cheese and tomato sandwiches

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Glop:
sliced potatoes, sliced onions, chopped streaky american bacon, pepper and a small amount of italian seasoning. Toss everything together. Pour about a quarter cup of water into the casserole dish, lid it and pop in the oven to bake at about 425 until done. Time cooking depends on how much you have crammed into the casserole dish =) Proportions of ingredients are at whim or what you have on hand, though it is possible to have too much pepper or too much italian seasoning. Cabbage can be an optional ingredient as can celery. No carrots, beets, brussels sprouts or spinach though.

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All righty, then.

1 box of scalloped potatoes (or better, au gratin potatoes) off your grocery store shelf

1 ring of smoked sausage/kielbasa, sliced

Prepare the scalloped potatoes as directed on the back of the box, with water and milk. Gently stir in the smoked sausage and serve.

Omnomnomnomnom!

That’s the basic recipe, you can make your own scalloped potatoes, or add grated cheese on top and put under the broiler for a minute, or add cooked mixed vegetables in with the sausage. I’m always pressed for time, so I just mix, cook, and dish it out and watch it disappear.

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Easiest, Cheapest, and best dip you will ever make:

1 box frozen chopped spinach
1 can artichoke hearts quartered (in water)
1 box cream cheese
1 bag shredded italian cheese mix (part moz, part parm, etc…)
1 cup mayo
Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder (must), and Pepper flake to taste

Put the spinach in about 3 inches of boiling water, and toss in the artichokes after giving them a rough chop. Once the spinach is completely defrosted, drain in a collander and give it a push with a spatula to get the water out.

Put the cream cheese, mayo, and half to two-thirds the bag of cheese in a bowl. Stir in the spinach and artichoke mixture. The heat from the spinach and artichokes will soften the cream cheese and melt the other cheese. Mix really well.

Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder and Red Pepper flake to taste. But the garlic powder is a must. It provides the savory background.

Put the entire mixture in a oven-safe casserole dish. Cover the dip with the remaining half - third bag of cheese. Bake at 350 until the cheese is melty on top and the dip is bubbly. Serve with tostitos chips, or pita chips, or bread slices. This dip is a huge hit!!!

If you have leftover dip (rather unlikely), boil up some pasta. Throw the remaining dip on the drained pasta and add some of the cooking water to thin it out a bit. Add some cooked chicken if you want. Best on-the-fly pasta dish ever!

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Don’t know about the comfort factor, but if you want dinner prepared in 5 min. and ready to eat in 30, quiche is the go-to food. Frozen pie crust, half a dozen eggs, some cream, and a couple handfuls of whatever sounds good.

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Cut up a chicken breast and cook it in a pan. When it’s half-done, dump in a sauce made up of 1 tablespoon each of soy sauce, honey, gochujang and 2 tablespoons of ketchup. Mix it up and then melt a couple of slices of American cheese over it once the chicken is cooked. Scoop the chicken, sauce, and cheese into a couple of big, burrito-size tortillas and eat.

I have it at least once a weak and it’s awesome. Takes like 15 minutes to make, too.