Winter is upon us here in the soggy PNW. Today was solid rain from start to finish. This means that winter comfort food season is also here. Last week we had ham and scalloped potatoes. Tonight it was meat loaf and baked potatoes, although I admit I look forward more to the cold meat loaf sandwiches on sourdough with some mayo in the coming days.
Next week (or two) will be the ultimate in comfort food, of course, with all the turkey meals and sandwiches. Turkey pot pie is a fave, as is turkey curry.
When it finally turns to winter down here, the fallbacks are beef stew, chicken tortilla soup and yes, meatloaf. Done in two loaf pans because we are a mixed marriage (gravy/ketchup). I’ve had a bumper crops of peppers this season, so the freezer is full of spicy additions to whatever dish is on the menu. Fresnos, Cow Horns, Patrons, Jalapeños, Asian Death peppers…you name it, it produced this year.
Ooooo…you HAVE to do mashed potatoes with meatloaf! And generally with peas. Which in winter, you have to resort to frozen. The best part is scooping up a bite of meatloaf along with some peas and mashed potatoes. And gravy.
Most kinds of homemade soup. I finished the last of the Tuscan bean with escarole today. Split pea, cabbage, chowders, and all kinds of chicken soup, particularly chicken with dumplings. And asopao, a thick Caribbean rice soup made with shrimp or pork or chicken.
Casseroles — or hotdish, for our upper-Midwest friends. I finished a small gratin Savoyard today for breakfast, with a couple of fried eggs laid over it. (Gratin Savoyard is thin-sliced seasoned potatoes layered with Gruyere, a half-cup of strong meat stock poured over, and baked until the top browns and the spuds have absorbed all the liquid)
Copy this! Oddly enough, many N’Awlins staples, designed to entice the appetite when it’s 98 degrees and soddingly humid, are GREAT cold/rainy comfort food. Gumbos, jambalaya, grillades, etoufee, dirty rice…
Today (and yesterday), it was Hungarian goulash (soup). I can never get tired of the stuff. I also have some chicken thighs in the fridge that I was just about ready to make into paprikash today, but had enough leftovers of the soup that I thought I should get through that first. But what I really wanted to do with the paprikash is make it into Hortobágyi palacsinta, which are crepes rolled with the meat part of the paprikash within, and served with the paprikash sauce poured over it. Looking something like this. But that’s a little bit of a PITA to make.
It’s not raining here – yet. Supposed to start tonight, though. I’m just doing a sausage and veg traybake - bangers, cauli, brussels sprouts, potato, onion and garlic cloves, with some mustard/olive oil/herbs mashed up and drizzled over. Smells good.
Some rainy-day favorites 'round here includes: calico beans(with extra bacon, natch), crusty sour dough french slathered in butter, bisquick-crusted hamburger pie, potato-cheese casserole*, sauerkraut soup using leftover turkey/chicken n veggies
Frozen cubed potatoes O’Brian (has onions n peppers) 2 small or a large bag
Sour Cream - pint (regular or lite)
Cheddar cheese, small chunks and/or shredded(or Jack, Swiss, or whatever) a couple of cups or so
Can of cream of chicken soup
Corn flakes crumbs to top it, or just more cheese…
Mix the sc n soup together, add in the cheese, mix with the taters,
Put in a casserole dish, add topping of choice, bake at 325 for around an hour
You should try free-forming your meatloaf, or form it in the pan and then shake it out onto a baking pan. That way you get crusty goodness all the way around. I glaze mine rather than make any gravy. Not sure why, as gravy is a beverage to me. I’m jealous of your peppers; they just never do well in my garden for some reason.
Open faced hot roast beef or turkey sammiches. Beef or Chicken stew. One thing I made for the first time last Sunday was sausage, bacon, mushrooms, and peppers. That will be making a return engagement.
Stewed beans, typically, but in this second half of the year I’ve discovered beef cheeks. The cheek is actually the fresh meat from the jaw muscle (not cured or smoked like pork jowl). Less than 30 minutes in a pressure cooker produces what is easily the most tender and appetizing beef I’ve ever eaten. I’m still working on the right ingredients, but if you cook the cheeks with vegetables, set aside the meat and blend the vegetables into the cooking liquid, you can reduce the liquid to create an unbelievably tasty sauce. So, probably mashed potatoes, too.
I don’t know how you guys find time to cook so much, every second I’m away from my laptop is time I can’t learn something new, work on my Youtube project, or watch a movie or show that has to be focused on.
Boiling water and making pasta and putting condiments on it is already enough time!
I’ve discovered the magic of gnocchi. My husband isn’t a big pasta fan like I am, neither of us are crazy about rice, but gnocchi hits all our carb-loving notes, especially at this time of the year. It doesn’t need a sauce, either.
This recipe has become a quick favorite and can be adapted in a million ways. I usually add some kind of chicken sausage to it, like andouille.
I love the food threads here! Especially when I’m sitting unbreakfasted at my computer and drooling on the keyboard as I type.
Have y’all ever made a pot of chili, mixed up a batch of cornbread (an envelope mix is fine), then poured the batter into the chili as it cooks? The cornbread batter completely sinks, then magically rises to the top and forms a yummy crust. The chili doesn’t have to be in a shallow vessel-- works great in a Dutch oven.
During the late summer months, my wife makes her famous sauce from all the harvested tomatoes out of the garden. We eat some, but freeze a lot too…then when the weather gets gloomy, we make all things pasta with that sauce. Spaghetti & meatballs is my personal fave…and then of course, if there’s leftovers, I make a righteous meatball sandwich for lunch. NOM!
