comfort food

KN, p. 290 “Portuguese Food Adventure”

The best part of any trip for a food enthusiast is the wonderful taste treats encountered along the way. The beach might be fun, the mountains may be spectacular, but if we can share the views with friends over a great meal, the memories will stay with us for a very long time.

 

We spent our recent trip to Portugal in Porto and Braga, (in the northern region, about four/ five hours north of Lisbon). We discovered that northern inland Portugal eateries focused on cod, the national fish of Portugal, as a menu choice. Fried, poached, grilled, broiled, mashed – with different sauces everywhere. The coastal towns have a larger sampling of the seas, but the islands of the Azores deliver the greatest variety I have ever eaten – including fish I had never heard of before. Dourado (a type of bream) and robalo (a type of sea bass) can be found in more expensive restaurants, as well as at lunch counters near the ocean.

 

Since the bigger Portuguese cities are tourist destinations for an international crowd, small restaurants and specialty lunch places are tucked around the edges of central plazas. They offer freshly cooked food – a big departure from American chains.

 

Enjoyed as a ‘fast-food’ all over the EuroZone, Doner Kebab is basically shaved meat (lamb, veal, or chicken) served on a hamburger roll or in a takeout box on top of fresh vegetables. The meat is stacked and cooked on a metal rod and often displayed in the front window of the restaurant. A large shaver is used to slice the meat quite thin.
                                                    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Doner Kebab lunch in a Porto sandwich shop near the train station was made with chicken. Beneath the chicken in the photo is shredded lettuce and tomato. The sauce is a garlicky, mayo type sauce similar to Tzatziki.

 

Lots of lunch menus include beef, chicken, or fish served with an egg on top. We ate this dish (steak and peppers with fries under the egg) at a diner-type place in Porto frequented by the locals – a great venue for comfort food served quickly to people from the neighborhood businesses on their lunch hour.

One welcome change we found on this trip to northern Portugal was that almost all the restaurants now have some version of a tossed salad on the menu, as well as vegetables listed as side dishes. The vegetables are well-seasoned to complement the main dishes. We have yet to eat at a place with bland food, so bring your taste buds.

 

Part of the foreign travel adventure is that our American stand-by favorites are frequently reimagined (or deconstructed) to reflect the local chef’s interpretation. The dinner menu at a lovely restaurant in Braga promised a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich. This is what was served – layers of Canadian style bacon, bread, and sliced tomato, all sitting in a tomato soup with an egg on top. Delicious, spicy, and oh so filling, but not at all what a traveler from the U.S. would expect for a BLT.

Another night, we wandered into a vegetarian restaurant that advertised all-you-can-eat with a price tag of about $12.00 for each of us. We doubted that we could stuff ourselves on ‘just veggies,’ but wow, were we wrong. Large platters filled the banquet tables with beautifully arranged appetizer sized vegetable concoctions. One notable item we might try to make at home was sliced, grilled sweet potato rounds, with a dollop of zesty hummus on top. Another platter held small stuffed mushroom caps filled with a pesto mixture. Yum!

 

As travel opens up around the world, be prepared to be surprised and delighted by the many new choices of cuisine. There are tourist traps out there that charge too much for the food you are served, but many are quite reasonably priced. Most places have menus near the doorway so you can be prepared before walking in (or away). We have found gems tucked behind the famous spots, and lousy food when a renowned chef has a bad day, but we’ve had tons more great food than ‘eh.’

 

It’s all an adventure and you’ll come back with great stories to share. Plus, some of the places we visited were perfect settings for murder mysteries, with subdued lighting and centuries-old architecture, so what’s not to like?

 

KNR, p. 231 “Meatloaf…Comfort Food”

 

Damp, chilly days require stick-to-your-ribs, tasty comfort food. Sheila and I like to combine weekend shopping trips with lunch at the local all-comfort-food diner, but sometimes the winter weather keeps us home. During a couple of rough weeks with sleet, snow, and ice pounding the area, we needed a LOT of comfort food, but the roads were dicey and we elected to stay indoors. What did we do? We came up with our own version of the meatloaf we had enjoyed so often downtown. The owner wouldn’t share his secret recipe and laughed when we asked, but we did a bunch of taste-testing and we think we came pretty close. There were no bodies lying on the floor after we ate, so we must have gotten it right. Try it and see for yourself.  🙂

 

Print
"Meatloaf...Comfort Food"
Author: 
Recipe type: Entree
Cuisine: American
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 6-8
 
Ingredients
  • Meatloaf
  • 2 pounds ground beef, 90% or 93% lean preferred
  • 2 teaspoons onion powder
  • 2 heaping teaspoons minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt (or to taste)
  • 1/2 cup + 1 Tablespoon condensed tomato soup
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 cup Progresso plain bread crumbs
  • 1 Tablespoon light brown sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon A-1 sauce
  • 1 teaspoon Gulden’s spicy brown mustard
  • Sauce
  • 1 cup condensed tomato soup
  • 2 Tablespoons light brown sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons A-1 sauce
  • 2 teaspoons Gulden’s spicy brown mustard
  • *1/2 teaspoon Canola oil for pan, not for meatloaf mixture
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400.
  2. Lightly coat sides and bottom of a 9x5 loaf pan with Canola oil to reduce cleanup time.
  3. In a large bowl, thoroughly mix all meatloaf ingredients together.
  4. Press meatloaf mixture evenly in loaf pan, slightly mounded in the center, lengthwise
  5. Cover and bake for 30 minutes.
  6. Increase oven temperature to 425, uncover and bake for 30 minutes more.
  7. While meatloaf is baking, mix sauce ingredients together in small bowl and set aside.
  8. Meatloaf will shrink away from the edge of the pan when almost done.
  9. Remove from oven, spread 1/2 cup of the sauce on the top of the meatloaf and return to oven for 5 minutes more.
  10. Remove from oven and let stand for ten minutes.
  11. Heat the remaining sauce.
  12. Slice the meatloaf in half-inch slices and serve with sauce, greens beans, and mashed potatoes.

You can thank us later.  🙂

 

 

KNR, p. 202 “The Kerrians’ Famous Mac & Cheese”

 

The temperatures are cooling off and comfort food takes center stage at our house. We fend off the chill with body warming soup and hearty sandwiches during the Fall and Winter, but every once in a while, we like mac & cheese. It works for lunch or dinner.

 

I like to taste test the new versions with different goodies added to the mix, but there is a basic recipe that Sheila uses (and even I can make) that is fail-safe. We sometimes prepare it ahead and serve it as a side dish if we’re expecting a crowd.

 

A couple of thoughts: It looks like a lot of instructions, but you’re boiling noodles, grating cheese, making a sauce, and putting it together in layers – like lasagna. No bodies were found while making the latest batch. Promise.  🙂

Here’s our famous Mac & Cheese recipe:


Ingredients for noodles

1    8 oz box small elbow noodles

2 teaspoons sea salt

1 teaspoon butter or margarine for boiling water, to keep noodles from clumping

1 teaspoon butter for tossing noodles

 

Ingredients for white sauce

4 Tablespoons butter

5 Tablespoons flour

4 cups milk

1 teaspoon Sea Salt

pinch ground black pepper

 

Additional ingredients

12 oz. Sharp Cheddar, grated

2 cups Croutons, seasoned  (we use the garlic & herb variety)

Optional –  1 cup Bacon, crisp, crumbled

Optional –  Whole tomato

 

Preparation

 

  • Bring 1 and 1/2 quarts water to boil in a 3 quart pot, add 2 tsp. sea salt and stir.
  • Add dry noodles and 1 teaspoon margarine to boiling salted water and stir.
  • Boil noodles until fork tender, stirring frequently (about 20 mins).
  • Thoroughly drain the noodles, toss with 1 teaspoon butter, and set aside.

 

Preheat oven to 375.

 

While noodles are boiling, prepare the white sauce

  • In one quart pot, melt 4 Tablespoons butter on medium heat, being careful not to burn it.
  • Add 1 Tablespoon flour, 1 teaspoon sea salt, and stir until well blended.
  • Add 4 more Tablespoons flour, 1 Tablespoon at a time, stirring each until well-blended and the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pot.
  • Remove from heat.
  • Add 1 cup milk (1/4  cup at a time) stirring until smooth, without clumps.
  • Return to heat and gradually add 3 more cups milk, while stirring.

As the sauce thickens, stir to keep it from sticking to the pot and/or clumping.

It is ready when it is the consistency of creamy gravy.

Add pinch of black pepper.

Remove from heat and set aside. It will thicken a bit more while sitting.

 

Grate all of the cheese and set aside.

Use a 2-quart baking dish. You will be assembling the mac & cheese in layers (like lasagna).

 

Spread 1/4 cup of sauce on bottom of baking dish.

Spread 1/3 of the noodles in the bottom.

Spread 1/3 of the remaining white sauce on the noodles.

Sprinkle 1/3 of the cheese on top of the sauce.

Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the croutons on top of the cheese.

 

Repeat the layers twice more, but with the top layer, crumble the remaining croutons and spread evenly on top.

 

Bake at 375 until heated through and cheese is bubbly, about 20 minutes, no lid.

 

Serve with salad.

 

Options: 

Create a well in the center of a whole tomato and serve mac & cheese in it.

Sprinkle crumbled bacon on top of mac & cheese as a garnish.

 

 

Prep time: 1 hour

Cooking time:  20 minutes

 

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