Comfort Food

On the Food Network, Emeril Lagasse and Rachael Ray have both done shows featuring “comfort food,” well loved recipes that pamper the eater with tastes well within the box: spaghetti and meatballs, macaroni and cheese, chicken soup–stuff like that.

The last two days have turned the family home into a sick ward. The young miss was still sleeping Sunday at 11. We can tell she’s not feeling well when a book isn’t read before Sunday brunch. The flu-like symptoms stayed today–it was a no-brainer to keep her home. My wife was also not feeling well–it was mid-afternoon before she got out of bed. I’m feeling like I’m running about 50% myself–it’s a bad allergy time for me. I did some work from home then went in to the office around dinner time and will stay for a 9:30 meeting with students.

I wanted to tell you about a recipe I attempted today. The women of the family love potatoes in almost any form. Italian sausage is also a favorite, so I cooked up an invention that was part-Indian: sauteing spices: garlic, cumin, coriander and paprika in butter. I processed green pepper and a little jalapeño and mixed it in. I chopped up three potatoes and let the whole thing simmer with an addition of condensed milk for about twenty minutes, mixing in the cooked sausage.

Italian meat, Indian cooking style, Spanish spices … it was different. My wife wasn’t too hungry, but the young miss gobbled down two servings. When I’m on my own, I like chicken soup when I’m feeling ill. There’s also nothing like a nice glass of juice. What about your comfort foods when you feel the need to care for yourself.

 

Eating During Lent

Time to plan those meatless family meals: Lent is very near. Today’s CNS feature tells a bit of it. I usually have one meatless meal with my family each week. Lately, I’ve tried to move that to Friday. I did a baked macaroni dish the other night, following a Joy of Cooking recipe. The eggs made it rich, but the cheese I had on hand gave it an overall bland flavor. Even though I added nutmeg to the egg mix along with the other spices, I didn’t think much of the final result. I told the young miss to mix in some pasta sauce with the leftovers tonight before reheating.

A local sub shop sells day-old bread for 48 cents a loaf. Once or twice a month a pick up a dollar’s worth of bread and I’ll split them, brush them with olive oil and red sauce, then sprinkle cheese on them. The young miss likes when I add my pistachio pesto under the mozzarella.

Me, I could take red beans and rice two or three times a week, but the women of the house can’t handle the spice–plus my wife doesn’t like beans.

Fondue is a favorite of the young miss, too. It can be awkward sharing that large fondue pot, so for the nights in front of a movie on the tube, I’ve conceded to pouring the cheese mixture in warmed mugs.

When we were kids, I remember having an occasional “breakfast” dinner: Mom would fix eggs and pancakes. I don’t do that a lot. I’ve tried one or two recipes for savory waffles, but they aren’t popular on my home front.

The CNS piece mentioned a baked potato bar–I think that would work in my home. The women both love potatoes. My preference would be potato crepes. For these I run potato in the blender with the other ingredients and get a super smooth batter. I spread them thin in the fry pan and when done, I’ll roll the potato cakes like taquitos, filled with applesauce or sour cream. I understand there is an Eastern European lokse, pictured above left. My crepes are even thinner.

My challenge is to fix a meal that’s simpler than my usual meatless fare. My daughter is already used to one to even three dinners a week without chicken, beef, or fish. One Lent I drank only water, but water-only at a meal wouldn’t look much different to the young miss, either. Half the time she prefers water to milk or juice, anyway. My wife is the only pop drinker in the house.

Any good ideas for Lenten meals?

 

Got Soup

Want a bowl of hot soup?

It’s a good soup day in central Iowa. This morning, I woke up, got out of bed, and before a ran a comb across my head, I noticed whiteness outside–lots of it. We’ve received several inches of snow overnight. In a little bit I’ll be digging out to get to church.

It was a good morning to make soup, though. I started with a nice mirepoix enhanced with some minced garlic and sauteed in olive oil and white wine. Added salt and pepper. When soft I added chicken broth and some tomato paste. Then the cleaned and rinsed lentils. Cumin, thyme, and coriander will keep the spice taste hard to pin down. A few hours later, and it’s good enough for lunch.

What I often put in this soup that I didn’t this time: lemon juice and chili powder. Last time I skipped the celery–didn’t have any fresh in the house–and wow, what a taste difference.

 

Apple Salad

After Mass yesterday morning, we were off to visit family for the holiday meal. My brother’s mother-in-law, an old family friend and adoptive “grandma” of the young miss, hosted.

The main Thanksgiving fare was already spoken for in the food contributions. Lots of vegetables covered, like a bean and bacon casserole, sweet potatoes, and one of those nice corn mushes. What about a fruit salad, I asked.

Between you and me and the rest of the net, I dislike jello salads. About 80 percent of the online recipes for fruit salads seem to include “gelatin” in some form. Diluting gelatin with marshmallows or whip topping isn’t really an option. But in trolling the Allrecipes site, I did find an easy “Autumn Apple Salad II” that seemed to have lots of promise.

The family and I went shopping Wednesday night and dang if personal preferences didn’t come out in the food aisles.

“Does it have to have cranberries? I don’t like cranberries.” (This is Thanksgiving; the cran-holiday.)

“It has nuts. What if people are allergic to nuts?” (I’ll put a food advisory on the bowl.)

“Dried cherries? Can’t you substitute celery or something for it?” (No, you can’t substitute a vegetable in a fruit’s place. And besides; I don’t like celery!)

So here’s the recipe:

8 granny smith apples, cored, and chopped into bite-size pieces

1 6 oz bag of dried apricots chopped roughly

1 8 ox bag of dried, chopped dates

about 5oz of slivered almonds, lightly grilled in peanut oil

24oz of strawberry yogurt

a few (maybe 15) chopped fresh cranberries, plus some fresh ground nutmeg and some cardamom to taste

Commentary: After sitting in the fridge overnight, the dried apricots picked up some moisture from the yogurt and their texture the day after was just right. A little too heavy on the nuts, and I think pecans would be a better choice. While the pastel pink, orange, and green were a nice enough presentation, I think the pecans and dates would give it just the right visual contrast: a little bit of brown. Yogurt is definitely better than cream cheese the women of the household commented, health-wise and to add another complementary fruit flavor. The original recipe called for vanilla yogurt. No idea why I put in the fresh cranberries, but it was interesting to chop them in half and see what they were made of.

Anybody have any links to their own holiday recipes?

 

Archangels

Have you a favorite? Mine would easily be Raphael, the emissary sent to respond to the prayers of Sarah and Tobit. Each in turn prayed for death as a better alternative to their sufferings. Sarah had been afflicted by a demon who murdered seven husbands in turn on their wedding night. Tobit was blinded by bird droppings and suffered the ignominity of an uppity wife who received a generous bonus for freelance weaving.

Instead of death, Raphael came to Earth in human form to arrange for the healing of these two people, the future wife and the father of the young adventurer Tobiah.

On the road, the menu of choice for Raphael and Tobiah was broiled fish. It would seem a simple angel food cake needs a little kicking up for an archangelic feast. I remember pouring a little angel food batter into the cake tin, then sprinkling a layer of cinnamon, then more batter, more cinnamon, etc.. Instead of plain cinnamon, maybe add a little ground cloves and cardamom.

Whichever angel is your favorite, and however you celebrate the day, keep in mind the qualities these beings bring to the Christian believer. Raphael, for example, was not only a healer, but also a guide, a teacher, a mentor to the young, a matchmaker, and a friend. Many of those qualities serve parents, teachers, and leaders quite well.

 

Mary of Magdala

Her feast, today, is a good day to reflect on her role in the mission of Christ. Her title, Apostle to the Apostles is an apt one, as is the egg which she is depicted holding in many icons, especially modern ones. This icon from Holy Dormition Orthodox Parish in Rhode Island is a favorite, as is this one by Robert Lentz.

I checked my few religious cookbooks for a Mary of Magdala recipe today. Alas, in vain. I suppose an egg dish of sorts would be appropriate. Maybe with some asparagus.

I don’t know if onions have any connection to Mary, but these onion-skin-colored eggs are neat, aren’t they? I wonder what would happen if I used shallot skins. I may find out tonight.

Let’s remember Jesus’ admonition to today’s apostle:

“Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

 

Who Needs Dirt?

Anita is packing the kitchen today and I’m hauling boxes from the basement den to the garage. While my wife was toiling away upstairs, she opened the oven door to see this. Wait till Brittany gets home from school. I’ll ask her to get something I left in the oven. She’ll freak.

Our oven conked out about two months ago. I was baking potatoes and curiously, the kitchen wasn’t getting warm like it usually does. I opened the door to check and it was stone cold in there. Anita and I meant to get a new range, but when the move to Iowa was solidified, appliance acquisition was postponed.

Seems like I forgot something that night two months ago, no?

This reminds me of a similar incident when I was oven-roasting corn for a small bachelor get-together before I moved to Iowa in ’95. Two weeks later when I was packing up my apartment, after an interview, a bus trip, and lots of busy stuff, I opened my oven door to find desiccated maize shriveled up in the pan.

Lesson: when I’m in the kitchen, don’t distract me.

 

Lenten Family Food

The Arkansas Catholic published a list of 113 recipes for Lent. They might cover every Lenten meal with a fast every other day.

Our family favorites are rather simple: grilled tuna salad, sometimes with cheese. Fondue is always popular. My wife likes pasta, particularly egg noodles, with just some butter, no sauce. Our child would eat macaroni & cheese anytime. I like a nice cream of tomato soup sprinkled with blue cheese. Maybe a plate of pasta with clam sauce.

What about you?

 

Kalacs

My favorite new recipe for ’08. A parishioner brought a loaf for the staff a few weeks ago and it was quite good. I found this recipe online, and second time around, added more sugar plus 1 tsp of cardamom (my favorite spice).

After years of the convenience of a bread machine, it was nice to get back to working with breads the old way. Though instead of hand-kneading, I used my trusty mixer.

Brittany wanted to bring a big piece for school lunch, but she had spaghetti for breakfast. Go figure.

 

Consumable Diapers

One of the more interesting and enjoyable cookbooks on my shelf is A Continual Feast. And one of the more interesting seasonal recipes I’m pondering is Christ’s Diapers. This link gives you the ingredient list on the sidebar, which I didn’t notice at first.

Like all Greek confections, this sure sounds delicious, even if you are folding them into the shape of diapers. (I guess I won’t tell Brittany what they are–she definitely wouldn’t approve of the crumbled pistachios in this context.)

 

Weekend In Iowa

Pardon the scarce posting the past few days. The family made a pilgrimage to Iowa this past weekend. The main intent was celebrating the diaconate ordination of a close friend. His wife passed away just two months ago, and we didn’t know until about a week before he and the archbishop decided to postpone his ordination until his life could settle.

We have close friends who are deacons, including in the two families to which we were closest during out five years at St Edward Parish in Waterloo. It’s hard for me to slip away on a non-summer weekend, but since it was all set up, there was no real reason not to go. Brit had only a half-day of school so we managed to hit town by 6PM Friday.

The ordination liturgy was my first in over twenty years. We were at St Raphael Cathedral in Dubuque (imaged before Mass above). It’s a bit of a strange place. Lots of wood, including the rood screen that separates the nave from the old high altar and tabernacle. But the floor is 100% carpet. Even so, the people sang with gusto. But you expect the spiritual motivation to overcome the floor padding for an event like this.

For me, the liturgy was just what the spiritual doctor ordered. It’s nice to go to a special Mass. And just pray. Archbishop Hanus preached mostly on Numbers 11, a curious choice at first glance, but very appropriate at least in terms of the realistic depiction of grumbling:

The foreign elements among them were so greedy for meat that even the Israelites lamented again, “Would that we had meat for food! We remember the fish we used to eat without cost in Egypt, and the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now we are famished; we see nothing before us but this manna.”

How ubiquitous the Culture of Complaint!

We had a pleasant time visiting with diocesan friends at the reception, plus taking in the 9AM Mass at my old parish ( a mostly uncarpeted nave pictured above). One of the people I trained to be a cantor thought I was in town to interview for the music director position, recently opened up with a defection to a better-paying and full-time job.

Brittany gave a thumbs-up to the experience, even the two-hour ordination Mass. Anita asked how her day was before bed Saturday night, and she replied, “Great! I could really live here, Mom.”

The experience of going to Mass was bittersweet. It was neat to visit with old friends before and after liturgy. It sounded good to be worshipping in a great church building renovated by people who really had their priorities straight. But communities change and grow. I saw just a few of the people I knew as children when I worked there. I heard great stories about their involvement in Newman centers, or early in their professional careers–usually elsewhere and often out of Iowa completely.

Iowa was quite an extraordinary experience for me. While I understood that some people were driven to follow their star far from their place of birth–I am one of those people, after all. I could never quite comprehend why the powers-that-be in the communities of the state were and are so hell-bent on making it so unfriendly for young adults. Top that off with a very flimsy sense of cultural Catholicism, and I found my Sunday reflections saddened by the situation I saw.

On the way home, we stopped in Des Moines to see my daughter’s favorite hockey team cough up five second-period goals and fall to Milwaukee. During our waling break at second intermission came the question, “Dad, do you think the Stars can come back?”

I said, “Do you want my hopeful answer or a realistic one?”

I’m always hopeful that I’ll see something amazing at a hockey game, like a team battling back from five goals down to win. Sadly, it was not to be.

After the game we had a nice meal here, though the style of their Murgh Korma was a bit different from other Indian restaurants in the KC area–to the disappointment of my wife and daughter. I enjoyed a Kashmiri chicken dish in a tomato sauce. It was good, but not quite as good as the hearty chicken dishes I’ve had locally here. But we’re quibbling over a half-star as far as I’m concerned. I’ll definitely have to go back to that place and sample other food.

Ah well! It’s good to be home in Kansas City.

 

The Potato Salad Rule

When I left home for the college dorm, I realized that my mother’s potato salad was nearly unique. That yellowish stuff I saw in the cafeteria was loaded with mustard. That stuff belonged on hot dogs, not with potatoes.

My brother and I were catching up a few months ago in Iowa and he told me Mom’s rule about potato salad. Besides no mustard, the secret was at least as many eggs as potatoes. I suppose it’s more of an egg and potato salad, and that’s okay with the women of the household. They never get mustard and that seems fine, too.

I’ve often experimented with additives. In summers past, I’ve used bacon. I wonder how a little mild Italian sausage might work. This year, it’s been mostly cilantro, dill and paprika. I’d use onions, but my wife’s digestive tract dislikes them. I might try a little jalapeño, but Brittany would object.

Potato salad gets devoured at our house. Two batches gone in four days of vacation. Time for one more later today.

 

Fathers To Sons And Daughters

As I grow older I hear more of my late father’s voice in my words. It’s not anything I can pin down. My dad had a very expressive speaking voice, especially when he was in a light-hearted mood. I remember him that way a lot.

When I speak to the pets or to Brittany, I hear some of that coming out–I don’t know where it comes from.

Other things to pass on were more scarce. Certainly, I have genetic inheritance: musicianship, a certain playfulness with my kid, and some physical characteristics like good teeth and a certain voice.

My father and I shared a taste for good seafood and jazz: two tastes I haven’t influenced my daughter to adopt. He didn’t share my taste in science, rock, ethnic foods, science fiction, or church things.
Not three weeks into summer vacation, and Brittany has turned into a Star Trek fan, asking at every turn to view all my taped Voyager episodes. I noticed she listed it as her favorite tv show on her summer camp application a few days ago. I asked her why she didn’t list this show instead. She just shrugged. She also jumped in ghee–I mean glee at my Father’s Day dining choice this afternoon.

Afterward, we enjoyed more sf fun: she enjoyed the character Polly Perkins. That’s okay. I rather enjoyed the other female lead in the film, but I think I look at female hero figures somwhat differently.

I sit in awe at the influence parents seem to have on children–on the influence I have on one child. I’m used to people going their own way, making their own decisions, and leaving me to my own devices. You’d think that by age eleven they’re leaving family influences farther behind. But I guess not yet. It still feels like a singular responsibility.

 

The Holiday Buffet X

Our final public service announcement for the blogosphere in the feasting mode. Enjoy.

One final tip: If you don’t feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven’t been paying attention. Reread tips; start over, but hurry, January is
just around the corner.

Remember this motto to live by: “Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, martini in the other, totally worn out and screaming,”WOO HOO what a ride!”

 

The Holiday Buffet IX

My Illinois friend Steve (not the organist) passed on a slew of suggestions from a friend of his. Consider this series a public service announcement for the blogosphere. Bon appetit.

Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it’s loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have SOME standards.