It is the dead of winter, cold, raining and we are all stuck inside. This is the type of weather that used to drive me into the depths of seasonal affective disorder, longing for spring, warm weather, sunshine and summer. Over the years I have learned to enjoy all four of the seasons, even though spring and fall usually last about fifteen minutes apiece in north Georgia. I love to be able to look out the back window, see the creek, the woods, the leaves on the ground, the birds and even the squirrels, not only in our feeders, but also in the trees and shrubs. One of the main things that I love and helps me cope with winter is comfort food.
Comfort food is described as food “that provides a nostalgic or sentimental value to someone and may be characterized by its high caloric nature, high carbohydrate level, or simple preparation. The nostalgia may be specific to an individual, or it may apply to a specific culture.” I couldn’t have said it better myself. In the winter months, comfort food is usually something warm and filling, definitely high in calories and carbs and easy to make. That’s what makes it comfortable. The following are a few of my favorite winter comfort foods, mostly of the southern variety. Having never spent a winter north of Blairsville, I don’t know much about northern comfort food. I’m sure they have a wonderful list to choose from, seeing as though their winters are about four months longer than ours.
When I was a kid growing up, my mother made chicken pot pies all the time. Granted, they were Banquet label and came from the Big Apple store, but to a ten-year old kid who had just came in from playing backyard ball all afternoon in forty-degree weather, they were delicious no matter how much salt, MSG or who-knows-what-else they contained. We now have a family recipe now that puts Banquet to shame, both in size and taste. Backyard football, basketball and Army may have given way to golf, splitting firewood or yardwork, but one thing will never change. Following an afternoon outdoors on a cold day, chicken pot pie is hard to beat.
A very dear friend who happens to be from New York calls her chicken soup Jewish Penicillin. It is good for colds, aches, flu, the heartbreak of psoriasis and just about any other ailment you can think of, no matter what your persuasion. I grew up on Campbell’s chicken noodle soup and it might be m’m, m’m good, but it can’t hold a big round spoonful to hers. At the first sign of a sniffle a bowl of her hot chicken soup, sandwich and a glass of milk are just what the doctor ordered.
Actually, any kind of soup is at the top of the list of comfort foods. It’s also a great way to clean out your fridge. Fresh or frozen veggies, a couple of cans of tomatoes, chicken broth and bacon make an easy and delicious vegetable soup. Potato soup is perfect for a day spent by the fire, as are ham and white bean soup and of course, good old fashioned tomato soup.
Then there’s mac and cheese. I’m not talking Kraft out-of-the-box here. I mean real homemade mac and cheese with macaroni or penne pasta, sharp cheddar off the block, Carnation milk and flour, straight out of the oven like Mema used to make. It’s guaranteed to pack on the pounds, but on a frigid day in February, who cares? Add sautéed chicken, shrimp or beef for a different slant on this classic dish.
Italian cuisine is considered comfort food any time of year, but especially in the winter. One of my favorites is fettuccine Alfredo with grilled chicken and broccoli. Steaming hot, it really warms the cockles on a cold day. It is hard to go wrong with spaghetti and there are a number of variations of it. Meat sauce, marinara, carbonara and parmesan are a few classic examples. The list of creative dishes you can make with spaghetti is extensive, but it’s hard to beat good old-fashioned spaghetti and meatballs. A friend of mine makes his with ground turkey and Italian sausage added. There’s also one other ingredient he adds, which will remain a mystery in the interest of preserving the family secret. I was always pretty happy with the way my attempts at our family recipe turned out, but since being treated to my friend’s dish, my wife has informed me not to bother in the future until I learn his technique.
This will be the last time I mention chicken, but it would be hard to discuss winter comfort food without bringing up chicken and dumplings. A cornerstone of southern cooking for generations, chicken and dumplings is right up there with biscuits and sawmill gravy. When I was a kid growing up, I hated my mother’s chicken and dumplings. I’m not even going to describe how she made the chicken, but I can pretty much guarantee that the method won’t be found on any food or recipe sites. I would go around the chicken and just eat the dumplings, which were whop biscuits. Whop biscuits are the kind of biscuits that come out of a can and are whopped on the edge of the counter to open them up. That was not the case with Mema’s chicken and dumplings. Mema’s chicken and dumplings were made with spices and heavenly homemade biscuits. All my adult life I have pretty much compared every dish to Mema’s. If you had ever eaten her cooking, you’d understand why.
Here’s something straight out of the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, creamed eggs. They are made from the same basic recipe as SOS. I’m not going to elaborate on what SOS stands for. You can look it up. If you served in the military, you already know. Creamed eggs are made with six hard boiled eggs, chopped up. In a skillet, mix butter, flour and milk until it is thick and bubbly. You then add the eggs, mix together and serve over toast. A stick-to-your-ribs cholesterol bomb if ever there was one. Any time my daughter’s best friend spent the night, creamed eggs was always what they wanted for breakfast the next morning.
Speaking of breakfast, here’s a dish that is good and hearty and can be enjoyed any time of day outside of the acceptable breakfast hours of 5am until 8am. It’s called the Breakfast Bowl. You first start with grits. Not Quaker Instant, but real grits. I prefer Nora Mill Granary Grits, ground at the mill in Helen, Georgia and referred to as “Southern Ice Cream.” Next add bacon and scrambled eggs, which is a standard breakfast on the plate. It is when you mix them all together in a bowl that it becomes comfort food.
And, finally there is chili. I saved the best for last. Everyone has their own taste when it comes to chili and usually a recipe. At the first sign of cold weather, a batch is cooking on the stove or in the crock pot and the wonderful aroma fills the house. The variations of chili are endless, as are the varying degrees of spiciness and heat. I prefer chili to be only slightly spicy so that you can actually taste the meat and ingredients in the sauce. My late buddy Moon used to make it that was basically unfit for consumption by any human being other than himself. Every pepper out of the garden and hot sauce off of the spice rack was added in liberal quantities. In the end was a brew that would scorch your tongue and every other station along the gastrointestinal system, right down to the end. He would make a disparaging remark concerning your manhood when you couldn’t eat more than one or two bites and not two or three bowls like him. He made a pot one time that was so hot it didn’t even need to be warmed up the next day when it was taken out of the fridge. That’s not journalistic license. That’s the honest-to-goodness truth.
I just checked the weather charts and it’s going to rain from now on. Temperatures are going to stay in the forties and fifties. Looks like another good day for comfort food. It’s a good thing I have Kohl’s cash. I think I’m going to need some new clothes soon. The ones I have now seem to be shrinking.