Comfort Food

What's your favorite comfort food? A comfort food is a food that you're always willing to eat, no matter what time, place, or who's cooking it, and no matter what the caloric content. For me, an essential comfort food is..... mac n cheese! (macaroni and cheese). I will eat mac n cheese at any time. When I cook it, it's a special event and I need to make a big batch. It's not the easiest food to make either! You may end up shredding 1, 2, 3, 4 different cheeses, cooking pasta, and making cheese/butter/milk sauce. You can add any toppings you want: tomatoes, broccoli, chicken, bacon, ham. Whether it's at a fast food place, a dining hall, the White House, I know I won't be able to resist the yellow cheesy gooey melty stuff. I do however draw a line at box mac n cheese; I don't like cheese powder.

The weird thing is, my parents never made mac n cheese for me as a kid, since it's not exactly Asian food. (See: cheese). I must have developed the taste for it as an adult, craving what I could never have. My parents made lots of tofu however, so I like eating tofu too. I stir fry tofu with lots of oyster sauce and nothing else -- tastes just fine! HAO CHI! Great Eats :)

Fried Plantains and Lazy Thursday Dinner

Readers, you must know that sometimes I, Nerdy Chef, feel like Starving-Lazy Chef and not every night can be a perfect Rachael Ray night. Some nights you just want to come home, grab the frozen package of Trader Joe's Mushroom Risotto out of the freezer and heat it up in a pan. That, my readers, was last night. But Matt and I had bought some plantains from the "recently marked down for quick sale" shelf at Shaw's, and they looked dangerously overripe. We had to cook them and eat them before they grew brains and decided to violently overthrow us and take over the kitchen.

The plantain, according to Wikipedia, is a crop in the genus Musa (like the banana) and is generally used for cooking. As you may know, plantains are less sweet and soft than bananas and must be cooked before eaten. Did you know that green, underripe plantains are starchy and overripe plantains are sweet? A staple food in tropical regions of the world, plantains are treated in the same way as potatoes are: steamed, boiled, and fried. In fact, Matt thought the fried plantain tasted just like a potato. I closed my eyes and pretended that I was eating a potato but I kept thinking, "Why does this potato taste and smell like a banana?" And I found this part of the Wiki article interesting, since I just learned about sadya from Sujiet, who's from Kerala.

Traditionally plantain leaves are used like plates while serving South Indian thali or during Sadya. A traditional southern Indian meal is served on a plantain leaf with the position of the different food items on the leaf having an importance. They also have a religious significance in many Hindu rituals. They add a subtle but essential aroma to the dish. In the Indian state of Kerala, a food preparation called Ada is made in plantain leaves. Plantain leaves are also used in making Karimeen Pollichathu in Kerala. In Tamizh Nadu, the plantain leaf is used to serve food in most of the house during festivals or special occasions.

Fried plantains are perfect for lazy Thursday meals. You peel the plantain, cut it into discs or lengthwise into rectangles, whatever you feel like. Heat a few tablespoons of vegetable oil in a skillet and fry the plantain until golden brown on both sides. We dipped the plantain discs in hommus, which was sort of an interesting culture clash. With some tortillas and Cheddar Jack, I made simple pan quesadillas. Yum! Humble Eats, folks! :)

Chicken Chasseur with Rigatoni

I have exciting news to report from my kitchen, ladies and gentlemen. On Tuesday, I had my first guest chef! My former roommate and good friend, Amy, came over to help me cook dinner. We ate gobs of hommus with carrots and cucumbers before finally settling on what to cook, from Rachael Ray's arsenal, of course: Chicken Chasseur with Egg Fettucini (we used rigatoni instead). Chicken Chasseur is a classic French dish which combines chicken and mushrooms with tomato and wine sauce (we substituted wine with chicken broth). It's very similar to the Italian version, Chicken Cacciatore, which uses capers, oregano, basil, olive oil instead of thyme and sage and butter. Chicken Chasseur means "hunter's chicken," which is how the hunters cooked their chicken, I guess, after a day of hunting. Here's someone else's equally valid theory that I found on the Internet:

Chasseur is French for hunter, and this recipe evolved from the way game was cooked, often tough old birds. Even if not tough, sometimes the bird was shot too close so that the flesh is torn up too much to cook the bird whole. The solution to either shortcoming was to slowly simmer the pieces in wine and tomatoes until the meat falls off the bones. Mushrooms add to the earthiness.

Cacciatore is Italian for Hunter, so you won't be surprised that Chicken Cacciatore is very similar. Some variations may be identical, in fact, but the Italian versions are more likely to be cooked in red wine rather than white wine and brandy, and, especially is southern Italy, with more tomatoes.

This dish is gorgeous served over egg noodles or mashed potatoes.

Amy and I thought the pasta dish tasted slightly sweet, probably due to the heaping teaspoon of sugar I added to cook with the carrots. Are you sure we should have added "a rounded teaspoon of sugar," Rachael Ray? But still, it tasted hearty and quite good and I wolfed it down hungrily. It's so fun to cook with someone else in the kitchen, as a team, and we had the radio going, and it was a blast. I highly recommend you try cooking with someone. The anticipation to eat what you made is greater and more exciting! And it's so nice to share a satisfying meal that you cooked together.

After dinner, we went to the Asgard for 2010 pub night for more food and drink and then, Toscanini's for decadent ice cream. I had a scoop of Lemon Butter Vienna Finger. It was glorious and so summery. Amy had the opposite, Ginger Snap Molasses, which reminded her of Christmas. Until next time.... Great Eats! :)

Pasta Carbonara and the Boston Marathon

Yesterday was the 114th annual Boston Marathon! A lot of Matt's friends who did track (and are now alum's) came back to Boston and were running in it. I went to the Marathon Expo the day before the marathon, where they were selling a lot of running clothes, energy drinks, and health bars. I wanted to get this year's snazzy turqoise and yellow Marathon jacket, but they were $90.00! Maybe next year, that'll be incentive for me to volunteer.

Matt ran "bandit" or jumped in at Wellesley without a number and ran 12 miles and veered off before the finish line. I woke up at 9 and headed down to the finish line at 9:30 to see what all the excitement was about. The race started at 9:17, (wheelchairs and handcycles, then women start at 9:30, then men start at 10:00).

It was a chilly morning even though the sun was out, but the huddled spectator crowd made it seem cheery. Very little happens for an hour or so until the first people in wheelchairs approach the finish line. Then you hear commotion down Boylston St and the wave of cowbells (handed out for free by race organizers) grows louder and you start to ring your cowbell before you even see anything! The tired but determined athlete sprints down to the finish line and you yell and yelp as loud as you can because what they've just accomplished is so awesome! On the big screen tv, you see the female runner in the lead, trying to shake off the Russian runner behind her. I wanted to capture her crossing my view with my cameraphone, and I was very anxious, because I knew it would be less than a second and I didn't want to miss her! (I didn't miss her, and the video came out great!)

The area around the finish line near the Boston Public Library became very crowded and I was snuggly surrounded in the barricades by cheering people. Two people from The Tech spotted me (I was wearing an MIT track sweatshirt) and they asked me if I knew anyone who was running. I gave them the names of the MIT alums I knew.

I even think the tv camera broadcasting the race caught my section of the crowd a couple times. I saw the top female and male runners finish! They were going so fast, even after 2 straight hours or 26.2 miles of running! Whew.... I was a little fatigued from standing in one place ringing a cowbell, too. I stood there until my friend Joe crossed the finish, and I headed to Commonwealth Ave for a more comfortable marathon viewing party in someone's posh apartment, to watch the rest of the 20,000 runners hustle in - some in funny costumes. Minnie Mouse! Cat in the Hat! Pirates, Canadians, carrying American flags!

What must you do before running (or spectating) a marathon?? CARBO-LOAD!!! The day before the marathon, Matt's runner friends had a pancake breakfast. I made Rachael Ray's "Only recipe you will ever need" Pasta Carbonara. It is simply pasta, egg, bacon, garlic, romano cheese, white wine, red pepper flakes, and black pepper. And it's delicious! I doubt it's the only recipe you'll ever need, since there aren't any vegetables in it. I brought it to the pancake breakfast, even though some disbelievers doubted its "breakfast quality." (C'mon - it has eggs, cheese, and bacon). By the end of breakfast, it was all gone! There were also blueberry, chocolate chip, and peanut butter chip pancakes which were scrumptious. Until we must meet again to load up on carbs next year - Great Eats! :)

Cucumber Sandwiches for Sunday Croquet

Spring has sprung.... here in chilly Boston. And if you're going to have a Sunday croquet party, you must make delectable cucumber sandwiches, as my dear friend and housemate Sally did. They were light, cool and delicious. And so dainty! I couldn't stop eating them.

Croquet, by the way, is a confusing game to play at first but then gets exciting and then drags on slowly through the afternoon in the sun.... the way things in life are meant to be enjoyed.

Someone said my motto was not original enough, so: Great Eats! :)

PS: I just saw the movie "Julie, Julia." Could that be me someday? I hope.

Spicy Chicken Tacos

Last night, I made soft shell spicy chicken tacos with pimiento olives. Mmm! The tomatoes and avocados made it taste really bright and fresh. Avocado is the perfect butter substitute; it makes everything taste better. I didn't really like the flavor that the olives offered though (will not add them next time). This recipe is quick and easy, fun and appealing to eat! And here's a picture from south of the border: Hawaii, to be exact. Good Eats! :)

Mushroom-Turkey Burger with Pan Gravy

Our special guest for dinner was Ms. Marcia Lo. I made mushroom-turkey burgers from Rachael Ray's 30 minute meals and it was delicious. I even shared it with Matt for lunch today. I also made southern green beans but those tasted funny (red wine vinegar and sugar, didn't have bacon). The very berry blueberry muffins with lemon-sugar topping I laboriously made in the morning were for a Sunday croquet party! I will try to get pics of that soon :) Good Eats!