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Category Archives: Comfort Food
Date Night: 10-year Anniversary Dinner at Tupelo
Ten years ago tomorrow, a very sweet guy pulled up to my apartment in Brighton and we went on our first date. It was unseasonably warm — just like this January has been — and we wandered through Boston. We strolled through the Public Garden and wandered down Landsdowne Street to play air hockey at Jillians (remember when Jillians actually had an arcade?) We headed to Allston where we ate waffle fries and drank $2 Brubakers at Our House (now gone!) And finally, ended the day with dinner at Sunset Grill. It was a great date and I knew then that I wanted to keep this guy around!
Gotta love a place that serves drinks in mason jars!
Of course, that sweet guy was Sean — and he’s still a keeper! To celebrate 10 years together, we decided to check out Tupelo in Inman Square, Cambridge. I’ve been following them on Facebook for some time where they post their drool inducing specials daily. It’s not a fancy place, but it’s comfort food with Southern roots — just the kind of food we love.
We started our meal with drinks — Winter White Sangria for me and I Yam What I Yam Lager for Sean. Sean’s drink was really interesting — beer mixed with a sweet potato and maple reduction with a hint of cayenne.
Drinks and Cheesy Grits
As an appetizer, we got their crispy cheese grits which were deep fried cubes of cheese grits. Salty, crunchy, and creamy in the middle — these were addictive and I could have eaten another order easily!
I’ve been craving fried chicken for ages so I decided to get that. It came with collard greens and jalapeno macaroni and cheese. Overall, I liked my food though was a little disappointed that I got a chicken breast rather than chicken thigh because I prefer dark meat. The fried chicken crust was really tasty and super crispy though — and breast meat was moist and flavorful. The collard greens were perfectly tender with a strong vinegar flavor which went well to balance out their naturally bitter taste. I could have used a little more jalapeno with my mac and cheese, however, I enjoyed that it was creamy, stove top style.
See that drumstick there? That's lunch for this weekend.
For dessert, we shared a piece of brown butter pecan pie with bourbon ice cream. So. Tasty!
I definitely want to go back to Tupelo and sample more of their food. The staff was friendly and the atmosphere in the restaurant was casual and cozy. Overall, a great way to ring in year 10 — here’s to another 60!
Posted in Cajun, Comfort Food, Cuisine, Restaurant
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Dinner Tonight: Red Lentil and Sausage Soup
I’ve been really into the crock-pot recently. It’s so nice to come home and know that dinner is ready with just a little preparation the evening before. Plus, it’s one pot so it makes clean up a snap (for Sean since I rarely do dishes.)
We’ve also been trying to pare down our pantry and use ingredients we already have. In this case, we had a bunch of lentils and a bunch of potatoes, carrots, and kale from our Boston Organics boxes. And we recently stocked up on spices at Penzey’s so we had plenty of flavor agents. We only needed to purchase chicken stock, canned tomatoes, and sausage for this super healthy, filling, and tasty meal.
In my experience, you just never know how something will actually turn out in a crock-pot. It’s a bit of a roll of the dice (did I put in enough liquid? too much liquid? will everything disintegrate to mush? will the beans still be crunchy?) This recipe came out awesome! On a scale of 1-10, I gave it an 8 1/2; Sean gave it an 8. The lentils broke down during the cooking which made the consistency super creamy; the potato and carrot were perfectly tender without being mushy and the sausage kept its integrity and flavor. Coming home after our 2 mile walk with the dogs to a huge bowl of this soup made the end of the day a happy one.
Red Lentil and Sausage Soup
Serves 6-8
Comfort food that's *really* good for you!
1 medium onion, diced small
2 large carrots, diced small
5 cloves garlic, minced
4 small potatoes, diced small
1/2 lb. ground sweet Italian sausage.
1 bunch of kale, cleaned, stemmed, and chopped
2 cups dried red lentils
1, 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1, 28 oz. can water
1 quart chicken stock
2 tbsp. smoked Spanish paprika
2 tsp. dried basil
2 tsp. dried thyme
Salt, to taste
Grated Parmesan cheese, to taste
Crushed red pepper, to taste
In a large crock-pot, combine the onion, carrots, garlic, lentils, potato, and kale. Make mini-meatballs out of the ground sausage. I was able to purchase bulk sausage, but if I couldn’t find that, I would remove the casing of sausage links and make that into meatballs. Add the meatballs to the crock-pot. Add the tomatoes, water, and chicken stock. Add the paprika, basil, and thyme. Stir to combine. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Taste and add salt to your liking. Serve in large bowls and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and crushed red pepper.
Dinner Tonight: Cream of Mushroom Soup with Elbows
Sean’s at a work outing tonight which means I’m on my own. I don’t have any problems cooking for myself, but when I thought about what I really wanted, it was clear: cream of mushroom soup with elbows, please.
While technically this dish is “cooking” — it’s not more than boiling some pasta and heating up that classic can of Campbell’s soup. You might think, “Really, Kerry? You can do better than that!” Sometimes, you just have to go with a classic. And, this dish…is a classic.
It’s classic dad food. It was one of the several dishes (including chili dogs and kielbasa) he’d throw together on nights when my mother wasn’t home. These dad classics were all foods she did not like, so when she was out, they were in.
To me, there’s something so comforting in a big bowl of cream of mushroom soup with elbows (bow ties are also acceptable.) It’s warm, creamy, and when topped with a hefty sprinkle of black pepper, nicely spicy. And it reminds me of being a kid.
Cream of Mushroom Soup with Elbows
Makes 1 very large bowl, but probably reasonable to split into 2 if you want to share
Thanks, Dad!
1 10 oz. can condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 10 oz. can water
3 oz. elbow pasta (or bow ties), boiled and drained
Black pepper, to taste (I like lots!)
In a medium pot, stir together the soup and a can of water. Whisk together until combined. Bring to a boil. Toss with pasta. Sprinkle with black pepper to taste. Ladle into a bowl. Be happy.
Posted in Comfort Food, Cuisine, Main Dish, Pasta, Quick & Easy, Recipe, Side Dish, Soup, Starch, Vegetarian
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This Week’s Lunch: Turkey Black Bean Chili
A couple of months ago, I decided that I’d test out a new way of dealing with lunch. Throughout my professional career I’ve gone back and forth with bringing lunch and eating out. Over the past year, I’ve gone mostly in the direction of the latter. It gets expensive to eat out all of the time and can be less than healthy. My plan was to start making one big entree on Sunday and portion it out for the week.
This has been one of the best ideas I’ve had in a long time and has stuck as a new habit. I’m saving money and eating better. It takes a couple of hours on my Sunday, but it’s time well spent.
This week, I made this turkey black bean chili perfect for these cold winter days.
Turkey Black Bean Chili
All of our lunches packed up for the week!
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, diced small
4 poblano peppers, diced small
3 jalapeno peppers, diced small
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can tomato paste
6 tbsp chili powder
3 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp ancho chili powder
1 tbsp garlic powder
2 lbs. ground turkey
1 lbs. dried black beans, soaked overnight
1, 10 oz. can diced tomatoes
2 medium zucchinis, diced small
12 oz. dark beer
4 cups chicken stock
In a large pot, heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the onions, peppers, and garlic. Cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes until they get soft.
Add the tomato paste and spices and stir together. Everything will combine together and look like a paste. Stir in the ground turkey and break it up.
Add the beans, tomatoes, zucchini, beer, and chicken stock. Bring to a boil and lower to a simmer. Simmer for 2-4 hours until the black beans are soft.
Posted in Comfort Food, Healthy, Main Dish, Meat, Recipe, Soup, Turkey
2 Comments
Sandwiches & Sweet Potato Cupcakes
Sometimes things are really busy at work and I get home and just don’t want to cook. It’s a strange feeling because I almost always want to cook. Last Tuesday we decided to make sandwiches. My favorite kind of sandwich is an Italian sandwich — especially with a little proscuitto! I made a little roasted red pepper salad to go with them. Along with some stove-popped popcorn, and some carrot sticks, it made a perfect, delicious, and quick weeknight meal.
Balsamic Roasted Red Peppers
1/2 jar roasted red peppers, roughly chopped
1 quarter small red onion, sliced very thin
1 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
Salt & pepper, to taste
Easy roasted red pepper salad.
Perfect, simply weeknight dinner.
This past weekend, we had two parties in one night. We attended an early Thanksgiving feast at Ronit and Ty’s; it was their yearly friends Thanksgiving and Ty has been throwing this for 13 years! I’m pretty sure we’ve gone to at least 6 of them. Lots of food and fun! Then we had to jet to party #2: Kevin’s birthday. We had a great time at both shin digs.
I never, ever want to go to a party empty handed — I always need to bake or cook something. In this case, I make two batches of Sweet Potato Cupcakes. I got the recipe idea from Martha Stewart’s Cupcake cookbook. I tweaked it slightly by adding cream cheese frosting along with toasted marshmallows and caramelized pecans (the cream cheese frosting was my idea; marshmallows and pecans from Martha.) I also added a couple of extra spices to the dry ingredients: ginger and cloves. These were DELICIOUS. Super tender, moist, and spicy. They also looked awesome (the caramelized pecans looked sparkly!) This is the second cupcake recipe I’ve made from her book — her yellow cupcake recipe was just as delicious, so I heartily recommend this cookbook.
Sweet Potato Cupcakes
Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes
Yum! Sweet potato cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, toasted marshmallows, and candied pecans!
2 cups roasted, mashed sweet potatoes, cooled
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed dark-brown sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups miniature marshmallows
Candied pecan pieces (see below)
Cream cheese frosting (see below)
Preheat over to 325. Line cupcake tins with cupcake papers.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.
With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream butter and sugars until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated. Beat in mashed sweet potatoes and vanilla.
Reduce speed to low. Add the flour mixture in three batches, beating until completely incorporated after each.
Fill cupcake papers with batter to 3/4 full. Bake for about 28 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool cupcakes on a wire rack before frosting.
To decorate, spread each cupcake with 1-2 tablespoons of cream cheese frosting. Top with 5-6 miniature marshmallows. Torch the marshmallows with a kitchen torch being careful not to melt the cream cheese frosting. You have to be quick. The marshmallows might catch on fire (like when roasting over a campfire!) Just blow out the flame as you go.
Sprinkle with crushed candied pecans.
Cream Cheese Frosting
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
6 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
With an electric mixer, beat butter and cream cheese together until light and fluffy. Reduce to low and add sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, and then vanilla. Mix until smooth and combined.
Candied Pecans
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
Heat sugar and water to a simmer in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar is dissolved. Stop stirring; cook until syrup comes to a boil. Boil, gently swirling pan occasionally, until mixture is light amber. Remove from heat. Stir in pecans with a wooden spoon to coat completely. Immediately remove pecans from caramel; spread in a single layer on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Let cool completely before using or storing; break into small pieces, if necessary.
Posted in Bar Food, Comfort Food, Cuisine, Dessert, Italian, Recipe, Sweet Potato
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Red Bean and Rice Cakes
It’s been awhile. I know. I get so behind with blog posts. There have been lots of dishes cooked and places visited since my last post. But for now, here’s a recipe that I created for a dinner that I cooked for our friends Josh and Melissa. They watched our dog when we went to New Orleans in March and asked us only to repay them in food. Great deal for us!
Since we were in the Big Easy, I was inspired to create these red bean and rice cakes. They combine everything good about red beans and rice in a compact little package. Because Melissa is vegetarian, I used a soy sausage, but meat eaters can certainly substitute a good andouille sausage.
Red Bean and Rice Cakes
Serves 4
3 tbsp. olive oil
½ large onion, chopped small
1 large green pepper, chopped small
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. tomato paste
2 tbsp. Cajun seasoning*
6 oz. soy smoked sausage (andouille preferable, but I could only find soy chorizo), crumbled
1 can, red beans, drained
2 cups cooked brown rice
1/4 cup bread crumbes
1 cup flour
2 eggs
1 cup bread crumbs
Vegetable oil, for frying
Heat the olive oil in a saute pan on medium heat. Add onion, green pepper, and garlic. Cook on medium to medium-low heat until soft, but don’t let the mixture get brown, about 10 minutes. Add tomato paste, Cajun seasoning, and sausage. Cook for 2-3 minutes longer. Add red beans to the pan and stir to combine.
Put half of this mixture into a food processor and process until it’s a smooth paste. Return to pan and stir to combine with the remained, unprocessed mixture.
Stir in brown rice and bread crumbs.
Let this mixture cool in the refrigerator for about an hour. Portion into 8 servings and create round cakes out of each portion
Set up a breading station with flour, eggs, and bread crumbs. Cover each cake in a thin layer of flour then egg then bread crumbs.
Add about 1/2 inch of vegetable oil to a deep sided pan. Heat to about 350 degrees. Shallow fry each cake by cooking to golden brown on each side. Drain on a rack with paper towels below. Serve with remoulade sauce.
* I like Joe’s Stuff cajun seasoning mix, but there are tons of different mixes out there. Just use your favorite. Joe’s Stuff has less salt than other cajun seasoning mixes, so if you have a salty one, use half of the seasoning listed in the recipe and add more to taste if needed.
Remoulade Sauce
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. Cajun seasoning
1 tbsp. Apple Cider Vinegar
1/8 cup flat leaf parsley
salt and pepper, to taste
Whiz all of this up in a food processor or whisk together in a bowl (make sure you chop the parsley fine if you use this method.)
Posted in Appetizer, Cajun, Comfort Food, Cuisine, Healthy, Main Dish, Recipe, Rice, Starch, Vegetarian
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Parmesan Pasta with Peas
Sean and I were driving home from Albany the other night and we were hungry. Of course, I had to make a pit stop at the one rest area on the Mass Pike that only had McDonalds. So, instead, we got some Chex Mix to tide us over. By the time we got home, there was only time to throw together something quick and this did it. It was super easy to make with basic pantry items — and it was super delicious. Just what we needed after a long drive.
Sidebar: I love frozen peas. As a kid I always hated peas — I grew up with canned peas and I hated the mushy mouthfeel. Imagine my surprise when I tried fresh peas for the first time as an adult. They were so delicious. I find that frozen peas taste closer to fresh peas than canned peas. They are easy to always keep on hand, cheap, and good to toss into everything from rice to soup to pasta. An easy, peasy way of getting some veggies, too.
Parmesan Pasta with Peas
Serves 2
6 oz. pasta of your choice*
1 cup frozen peas
1 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. shallots, finely chopped
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
Salt and pepper, to taste
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add a big pinch of salt and the dried pasta. When the pasta is about 1-minute from al dente, toss in the peas. Drain.
Meanwhile, heat the butter and olive oil in a large skillet. Once the butter is melted and bubbly, add the shallots and cook 2 minutes or until soft. Toss in the cooked pasta and peas. Add parmesan cheese, parsley, and pine nuts. Stir to combine. Add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.
* I used a combination of angel hair and pasta shaped like little snails because that’s what I had. Anything tubular or shell shaped works particularly well with this because it gives the peas a place to settle so you get peas with every bite. However, in a pinch, any pasta will work.
Posted in Comfort Food, Cuisine, Healthy, Main Dish, Pasta, Peas, Recipe, Side Dish, Starch, Vegetables, Vegetarian
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Asian-y Noodles with Grilled Chicken
I thought of this recipe on the way home today. Sean and I didn’t have very much in the fridge, but I knew we had some cabbage and some chicken that we needed to use up. I always have tons of flavorful pantry items (spices, vinegars, sauces, etc.) so it was easy to throw together. It turned out great. The noodles themselves were great served at room temperature — perfect for a warm evening like tonight.
You can serve this as a main dish with chicken (as written here) or shrimp; you might also serve as a delicious vegetarian dish by forgoing the meat all together.
Asian-y Noodles with Grilled Chicken
For Dressing:
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 tsp. toasted sesame oil
4 tbsp. honey
2 tbsp. rice wine vinegar
Juice of a lime
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. siracha sauce
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. toasted sesame seeds
For Salad:
1/2 lb. fettucini
1/2 small head green cabbage, thinly shredded
1/2 small head red cabbage, thinly shredded
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
2 green onions, sliced
2 tbsp. chives, chopped
1 medium carrot, julienned
1 large chicken breast
Toasted almonds
Put ingredients for the dressing into a small bowl; whisk to combine.
Boil the fettucini noodles for about 10 minutes until al dente. Drain and rinse with cold water until the noodles are cool to the touch. Drain well. Toss together with the cabbage, onions, chives, and carrots until all ingredients are mixed together well. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to combine.
Season the chicken breast with salt and pepper (or, you could also marinate in teriyaki, hoisin, or any other asian-type sauce.) Grill until temperature reaches 165 degrees and slice.
To serve, place some salad in a large bowl. Top with sliced grilled chicken. Garnish with sliced almonds and sesame seeds.
Posted in Appetizer, Asian, Cabbage, Carrots, Chicken, Comfort Food, Cuisine, Fish, Healthy, Main Dish, Meat, Recipe, Side Dish, Vegetables, Vegetarian
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