LUCY BURDETTE: Last week it got chilly in Key West (60 degrees in the morning!) And we were having an unexpected dinner party of 6, including one fellow going through a very rough time. This called for spaghetti bolognese--delicious and comforting. My recipe makes a lot of sauce. We had it for dinner for six, and then had leftovers two nights later. If you can make this the night before and simmer a couple hours, it will be even easier and better the next day.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, minced (about a cup--I did this in food processor)
1 and 1/2 cups minced carrots (about 6, ditto food processor)
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup red wine
1/2 cup white wine
2 28 oz cans whole tomatoes
1 6 oz can tomato paste
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil
1 cup of milk
Saute the onions and carrots in the olive oil about 5 minutes in a big stockpot. Add the garlic, cook 30 seconds more. Scrape the vegetables out of the pot onto a plate. Brown the beef, breaking it up into crumbles. Drain the fat. Add the veggies back into the pot with the drained meat. Now add wine and cook this down a little. (We happened to have the white wine left over so I used some of that--you could use either color and be fine.)Now add the tomatoes, breaking them up in the pot as you stir. I like to make sure little hunks of skin are not left on the fruit before I add them to the pot, but you be the judge of whether running into skin in your sauce will annoy you:).
Add the tomato paste and the herbs. Some recipes call for fresh chopped parsley, which is delicious if you have it. This last time, I snipped in lots of fresh basil from our balcony garden.
Add the milk.
Simmer the whole thing about two hours until alcohol has evaporated and flavors blend.
What's your go-to comfort food dinner?
This sounds so good, Lucy . . . thanks for the recipe. I can't wait to try it!
ReplyDeleteComfort food dinner? Meat loaf with macaroni and cheese . . . .
I'm in for that Joan!
DeleteThat looks so good. I like a pasta dish as comfort food and my favorite would have to be macaroni and cheese. Most of the pasta dishes taste even better the next day. Something chocolate or a cannoli for dessert is good too for comfort.
ReplyDeleteI adore mac and cheese!
DeleteSounds like a good recipe, Lucy; it's similar to mine except for the milk--that's a new one for me. I'll have to try it! Comfort food when I'm tired and only feeding myself: open-faced toasted cheese sandwich or a big bowl of oatmeal. Comfort when I'm cooking: roast chicken, mashed potatoes, and broccoli.
ReplyDeleteKim, milk in this kind of sauce was a first for me too. And, a good bowl of oatmeal is a real comfort. Danielle
DeleteI *think* it's traditional for Bolognese, but I could be wrong:)
DeleteI love open-face toasted cheese with some smoked paprika sprinkled on top.
DeleteYes, it is definitely traditional.
DeletePasta is a nice comfort food. My one specialty is stuffed shells.~Emily Dame
ReplyDeletethose are great too, Emily. I like mine with spinach:)
DeleteThanks for the recipe! We love pasta, although we have to watch how much of any kind of cheese. This looks like a delicious sauce. Another comfort food for us (if one of us is really not feeling well) is a South Indian dish called Lemon Rasam. It's a rather soupy sauce that often goes over rice, but if you don't feel well, it makes a soothing soup.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds intriguing, going to look that up!
DeleteThat recipe sounds delicious, Lucy. I love pasta. There are some really wonderful Italian restaurants in our area. I think I have tasted each of their versions of bolognese. I love pasta.
ReplyDeleteI make various soups for comfort food. Because we do not serve milk and meat in the same meal at home, most of my soups are vegan and can be served with either. Irwin's favorite soup is dairy, the Hungarian Mushroom Soup from our Moosewood Cookbook. My very favorite soup however, is beef barley.
Hungarian Mushroom Soup is insanely good. No one else in my family likes it, though, alas.
DeleteNow I want to make that soup!
DeleteI do love beef barley, but now I'm going to get my old Moosewood and look at the mushroom soup!
DeleteI just looked up the mushroom soup. I just have one problem in that I can't taste paprika and I don't know why. It doesn't seem to matter if it is a lot or a little. Maybe I'll add a touch of jalapeno?
DeleteYummy, and how lovely of you to cook comfort food for your friend. Thank you for the recipe. My comfort food dinner would be anything with potatoes - scalloped with cheese is delicious - or tortillas, like stacked enchiladas. But pasta works, too.
ReplyDeleteLove scalloped potatoes Edith!
DeleteLUCY: That spaghetti looks tasty. Bolognese sauce was one of the first recipes I learned to make in my early 20s. Italian food was not eaten in my family home. But I have not made bolognese pasta in a long time due to those nightshade allergies (tomatoes. I also no longer eat ground beef.
ReplyDeleteMy comfort food would be hearty soups. I make minestrone, pasta e fagioli or beef barley soups in winter.
P.S. I have been able to eat tomatoes & mild chilis again since last summer. Minestrone & pasta e fagioli both contain tomatoes.
DeleteI'm glad you're able to enjoy those again Grace. Pesky allergies!
DeleteHearty soups are wonderful, Grace!
DeleteDiana
Chicken and noodles with the Reames homestyle egg noodles.
ReplyDeleteNoodles were my comfort food as a toddler. Loved them! Diana
DeleteI hadn't heard of Reames, must try them now!
DeleteI have not heard of Reames noodles, but I make chicken and noodles with Grandma’s brand frozen noodles. They are thick and substantial, just like homemade.
DeleteSounds delicious! And versatile. I have tomatoes frozen from last summer's garden, and I bet they'd work great. I freeze them whole, then run them under hot water for a few seconds, and those inconvenient skins slip right off.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Edith on potato anything as comfort food. Even a microwaved baked potato with butter and salt and pepper will cheer me up. But a little more effort, and some leeks, will inspire potato-leek soup, the ultimate fixes-what-ails-you-dish. Especially good on cold, rainy nights. Is it the potatoes, or the chicken broth? Who cares.
Potato Leek soup sounds wonderful. I had it in Austria and it was so good! Diana
DeleteI love potato leek soup too. Today I'm going to try parsnip leek and carrot soup, since my Chef's Garden box arrived with tons of parsnips:)
DeleteLucy, have you ever made Rhys's parsnip/carrot dish? I have the recipe somewhere. SO good.
DeleteUmm, I got some leeks at the farmers’ market Friday. I think potato leek soup will be perfect this rainy day!
DeleteThat sounds delicious! The comfort food I had last night was pineapple fried rice from Thai Seasons, a local restaurant. After a long 10 days of hanging out with a dear one in the hospital (she's home now), it seemed appropriate, and I didn't have to shop or cook.
ReplyDeleteEverything sounds good to me this morning. And very kind of you to spend all that time with a sick friend!
DeleteThat sounds delicious and would make the house smell sooo good. I see recipes that call for milk in the sauce, but I have never tried it. Today might be a good day.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of today, we are in day 2 of a snow-mageddon, and it is supposed to go for another 48 hrs at least. Last night when we went to bed there was 24 inches of snow on the deck. Today you cannot get out any door, as the banks are over 36” (as far as the yard stick measures) and in some places it is up to the roof. If we could get out, we could go to the garage and bring over one of the grandkids measure sticks as they go up to 6 ft. So, the day will once again be spent rebooting the computer each time the power goes off, not watching tv/radio as we have satellite and it is covered in snow, and constantly refilling the fireplace as the snow against all the windows works well for dropping the heat inside the house. Oh yes, the woodpile on the deck – well it is under snow. It may require some shoveling…
So, supper – the bolognaise or go back to the previous menu of BLT’s for lunch, and fish chowder for supper. It was originally going to be roast chicken, but right now I can’t get outside to the other building to get the chicken. If the power goes off, it is egg salad sandwiches – again. I think I will go back to planting seeds and waiting for spring. At least all this snow should fill the aquifers.
Margo, good luck in your snowbound situation. It sounds delightful and terrifying in equal measure!
DeleteMargo, my forgotten little road has entered the age of decent internet--no more lugging the ladder through snowdrifts in order to clean off the rooftop satellite dish so I could work.
DeleteMARGO: Oh well, at least they got the forecast right this time! Hunker down, and enjoy this year's snowmageddon. I wish some of that snow came to Ontario. The Winterlude organizers have had to make artificial snow for the Snowflake Kingdom snow slides for the kids. And the Rideau Canal remains closed due to balmy temperatures. Our high today is -2C/28F.
DeleteGrace, I heard that the canal was closed, and hoped with some cooler weather at the end of last week that it might reopen. Do you skate?
DeleteWow on all that snow Margo! I'd like to be there for 2 days maybe, then beam me back to Key West. Although we are having a huge storm right now, but no snow
DeleteMARGO: The forecasted overnight lows were in the -12 to -13C range but we went down to -7C. We need at least a string of -15 to -20C lows to get the Canal reopened. Does not look good. Next weekend's temperatures are +5C. Yes, I do skate but have rarely gone out post-broken ankle in winter 2017/18 since the ice conditions are so rough.
DeleteComfort food equals to chicken pot pie for me. But as I mostly eat lightly at diner, comfort food is a vegetable soup made of what’s on hand. I also love a good oatmeal on a cold night.
ReplyDeleteAs always, when we speak about food, every time someone adds her favourite like potato or pasta, I tend to add it to my choice :)
Danielle
I get that Danielle!!
DeleteSpaghetti is always a comfort food for me--the recipe sounds great, except I'd skip the milk. Tried it that once. My comfort food is a breakfast of bacon, gravy and buttermilk biscuits.
ReplyDeleteOMG that sounds so good Flora!
DeleteWe sub in sausage for the bacon, but I agree, that’s a favorite for us, particularly during football season.
DeleteMy own comfort foods are generally things that don’t require a lot of concentration. One of them is meatloaf. Another is a very simple chicken broth and rice soup (with an egg added near the end) I make when my mind or my stomach (lots of gastrointestinal problems here) need comforting.
ReplyDeleteDep
Sounds perfectly comforting Deb!
Deletethese days my comfort foods are soups in this cold weather. At Uni, my comfort food was mac and cheese.
ReplyDeleteDiana
That looks delicious and pretty straightforward. I once made a bolognese that called for an entire shoulder of pork, LOTS of red wine (and no tomatoes), dried porcini mushrooms... cooked forever and shred the meat off the bone... Made it into an Tuscan style lasagne (bechamel sauce instead of cheese)... it was spectACular but not something I'd ever repeat. TOO MUCH WORK.
ReplyDeleteMy go to comfort food is chili. Made with chopped beef, tomatoes, chili powder, onions, garlic, cooked forever and add kidney beans. Serve like a sundae--over white rice and under a layer of sour cream and chopped fresh cilantro. Easy and so good. No recipe needed if you keep tasting and add S&P as needed.
I love that--served like a sundae LOL
DeleteHallie darling, come on over and let’s make chili next Sunday. We’ll have a super Super Bowl party. Much love
DeleteI think most of what we eat qualifies as comfort food! But any kind of soup tops the list.
ReplyDeleteA couple of weeks ago when it snowed for days on end, I made a chicken vegetable. Then I threw it a handful of egg noodles. While all that was simmering I found a box of matzah in the pantry. And voila! I made matzah balls. It was the best soup ever! And I’ll never have just the same amount of past it veggies to replicate it.
But oh those matzah balls!
sounds divine. can we all come for chili?
DeleteMy comfort food is pot roast with onions, carrots and potatoes. Pot roast for one is a lot of leftovers even when I cut the smallest roast available in half. Stew the next day is often for two or three days. If I do freeze some of the leftovers, it usually gets buried in the freezer. But pot roast is still.what I go for time and time again.
ReplyDeleteSounds delish!
DeleteMy comfort food is a nice hot grilled cheese sandwich. Cheddar. On rye or sourdough.
ReplyDeleteI may need to go make one of those now....
DeleteLucy, I made spag bog (as we call it in my family) last night! I used to grind veggies like carrots and spinach and add them so as to slip them to my son, who was very anti-vegetable growing up. These days, I add several finely diced Turkish peppers for heat and a handful of sliced olives (another thing that never would have flown in my little kid days!)
ReplyDeleteI've also made the sauce with ground turkey, diced leftover chicken... one of the best things about cucina povera is its near-infinite versatility.
Dim sum. My favorite place is about 20 minutes away and I eat several dumplings on the way home because I can’t wait. And I get enough for leftovers the next morning.
ReplyDeleteoh I wish we had good dumplings nearby
DeleteFrom Celia: It looks so delicious Lucy and by the look of your cat, it was. Spag Bog as us Brits would call it, was the first meal I cooked with my flat mates back, back in the day. I was 16 and at secretarial college in London, sharing a huge space with four others, plus friends in Earl Court Square. We decided to give a dinner party and Spag Bog it was, and very tasty too. But now I might choose a bowl of home made lentil soup, a mess of scrambled eggs on toast or best of all a grilled cheese with some tomato soup. However the last is off the menu as I am on a very low salt diet, NO cross diet out, not dieing yet. Lets say that my cardio thinks it would be therapeutic for me to eat virtually no salt. So my sandwich would have to be balanced with my daily allowance. More of this to come if Julia lets me loose.
ReplyDeleteI've probably told you Celia, but I became a great expert on low sodium cooking when my Meniere's was at its height. The right condiments make a big difference!
DeleteLooks yummy!
ReplyDeleteOh, we're in for a cold snap here. I'm definitely having the Hub make this! Thanks, Lucy!
ReplyDeletecold in Tampa too. got down to 41 degrees. the sauce sounds wonderful with one warning. alcohol does not completely cook off, seriously even the flavor can trigger some sensitive people. Of course it can be left out. Kind cooks always check first, as I know you do.
ReplyDeleteGood point Coralee!
DeletePasta is always a comfort food for me. I can even eat spaghetti (either thin or angel hair) with a little butter melted on it and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese. Of course, some sauteed mushrooms thrown into that simple mix make it even better. But, I'm a fan of regular spaghetti with sauce, too. I would prefer no beef, but my husband wants the beef, so that's okay. I love my chicken noodle casserole fixed with wide egg noodles. And, my baked spaghetti will always hold a special place in my heart, as it was Kevin's favorite. And, I can't leave out my meatloaf served with mashed potatoes.
ReplyDeleteYou are such a good cook Kathy!
DeleteLate to the party today, but that sounds delish, Lucy. I have some ground beef in the freezer and that would be perfect!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lucy! I purchase meatballs (almost 4 oz each) from a specialty market and keep individual bags of two meatballs in the freezer. A jar of organic, low salt pasta sauce, a 1/2 pound of either organic chickpea fusilli or green lentil penne and the meatballs make a delicious meal. I line up these ingredients on the kitchen counter and ask my husband to "have at it." He says that he feels like Emeril with this arrangement and just loves to put this meal together! If that does not work, then I have slices of Whole Foods pizza separated with parchment paper in plastic bags in the freezer. This is a really quick and easy warmup!
ReplyDeleteThere's is nothing like pasta for comfort food IMHO. Lucy's class bolognese is always perfect. An easy favorite is to boil up some frozen cheese rvioli. Melt some butter, add some anchovies or anchovy paste and put on the drained ravioli and sprinkle with lots of grated cheese. It sounds weird but it tastes delicious. And breakfast for dinner has its comforst too. Pancakes are always perfect. A morning treat from my childhood_ a cooked yellow cornmeal with cheese- a variant of Southern grits or Italian polenta or Romanian mamaliga - all cousins on the tongue. (I have some Romanian ancestry)
ReplyDeleteA pot roast (chuck) with potatoes, onion, and carrots. Cooked for a few hours. Depending on my mood, I may make gravy from the drippings or serve it au jus.
ReplyDelete