How is it that the simplest cuisine makes us the happiest? Most times, we refer to comfort food as something your mom made or your grandma made or your dad made and often times, these recipes are for the most part, basic or simple. The paradox is when these dishes involve a plethora of ingredients. For instance, my favorite dish is masala dosa. My mom makes the greatest dosa in the world. In the end, it is a rice crepe filled with sauteed potatoes and onions served with various chutneys and a tomato soup with vegetables. Crepes, potatoes, onions, soup, chutneys. It seems simplistic but the effort, the time, the various ingredients in this dish take hours on end to prepare. Even mashed potatoes made from scratch require boiling the potatoes, heating up the milk/cream, adding the butter, making sure it is salted right, and physically mashing them together. My girlfriend, for example, my "sous chef" or "prep cook" in our kitchen, is an amateur cook at best and yet, she still has mastered a few dishes I consider my comfort food, such as her tuna noodle casserole. Her recipe includes mixing Velveeta shells and cheese, a can of tuna, peas, mayo, and milk, and then topping it off with potato chips and butter before putting it in the oven. The point is that she has to boil the pasta, drain the tuna, add enough milk and mayo to make it creamy, make sure the peas are properly cooked, crush the chips, and put the whole thing in the oven for the correct amount of time. It is the thought and consideration that goes into this relatively simple dish that warms my heart (not to mention the leftovers).
P.S. Our friend Mel Flynn has also been writing about comfort food. Check it out at: http://thesinglechef.wordpress.com/.
