Comfort Food: Pancakes and Pasta

Everyone’s definition of “comfort food” is different. When I was sick as a child, all I wanted was creamy oatmeal with raisins and brown sugar. Warm, soothing, with a hint of sweet. The following two recipes hit the mark for me as well. Freshly made pancakes with warm real maple syrup or homemade apple sauce. The perfect way to start a day when you know the afternoon will hold a nap. And the creamy garlic-infused pasta that calls out to be eaten on a chilly day when the rich fulsome sauce encourages you to give into your desire to snuggle under the covers with a good book after consuming a bowlful.

Pancakes
These really are wonderful pancakes. I started making them in Japan when my first son, Franz, was a baby and continued making them through the boys' teen years, mostly for breakfast but sometimes for dinner when I was down to eggs and milk in the fridge and flour in the cupboard.

¾ cup white flour
¾ cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup milk
2 eggs
3 tablespoons oil
1 tablespoon molasses

1. Sift the flours, salt, sugar, and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. If you don’t have a sifter, place all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir well.
2. Pour the milk into a measuring pitcher.
3. Separate the eggs, dropping the whites into a small mixing bowl and the yolks into the milk. Add the oil and molasses to the milk mixture and stir to combine.
Note: The molasses will slip right out of the tablespoon if you use your tablespoon to measure the oil first.
4. Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients. Stir lightly until just blended.
5. Beat the egg whites, until they hold a soft peak. Gently fold into the pancake mixture.
Note: If you want to get some exercise beating your egg whites, use a whisk or an old-fashioned eggbeater. If not, use a hand-held electric mixer.

6. Pour about ¼ cup batter into a lightly greased large frying pan or griddle on medium high heat. You can probably cook about 3 pancakes at a time with room to turn them over easily. Cook until bubbles form in the pancake and the edges are set. Flip and cook until the bottom is brown and the pancake is cooked through.

7. You can keep the first pancakes warm in a 250°F oven for a short period of time while cooking the rest.
8. Serve with warm maple syrup, applesauce, jam, yogurt—or whatever you fancy.

Makes 10 regular-sized pancakes
Handwritten from a cooking notebook I kept while in Japan, 1971-73
As you can see from above, I added a photo to the page just recently.












A Creamy, Calming Pasta Dish with Sausage

4 heads of garlic or an equivalent number of garlic cloves
Note: Most supermarkets now-a-days have plastic containers of peeled garlic in the produce department. If you are pressed for time, this is the occasion to use them.
2 tablespoons olive oil
6-8 springs of fresh thyme
1 pound dried shell or tube-shaped pasta [I used Delverte’s No. 32 Penne Rigate]
2 cups heavy cream
Salt and pepper to taste
4 fresh sweet uncooked Italian sausages
2-3 sprigs of fresh thyme, stripped and chopped

1. Place the unpeeled whole heads of garlic or the equivalent peeled garlic cloves in a small baking pan. Drizzle with oil and thyme and place in a 400ºF oven. Roast the garlic until the cloves are very soft and sweet, 50-60 minutes for the heads and much less for the cloves.
2. Cool the garlic heads and then tear them apart and squeeze out the contents of each clove into a small bowl. [This step took nearly all of my considerable patience and is the reason I devised a simpler method.] Or place the peeled cloves in a bowl. Mash them into a paste, adding a small bit of your 2 cups of cream to help the process.
Note: You can use a mortar and pestle, a Japanese suribachi, a potato masher, a small food processor or a fork to smash and mash the garlic. You do not need to make it perfectly smooth unless you want to.
3. Put your pot of salted water (for cooking the pasta) on the stove on high. Bring it to a boil while you are working on the next two steps.
4. Warm the garlic paste in a sauté pan over moderate heat, pour in the cream, whisk the garlic and the remaining cream to combine, bring to a simmer, add salt and pepper to taste, and cook for several minutes.
5. Skin the fresh sausage, crumble the meat into a frying pan and fry until done.
6. Cook the pasta in your pot of boiling salted water until it is al dente. Drain in a colander, saving about ½ cup pasta water to use in the sauce as needed.
7. Tip the pasta and drained sausage into the cream, toss gently and heat until all the elements are warm and the cream is gently bubbling. If the sauce is thicker than you like it, add a bit of the reserved pasta water to thin it out until you reach the consistency that is right for you. Add more salt and pepper if needed. Ladle into plates or bowls and garnish with fresh thyme leaves.

I serve this pasta with steamed spinach; I like its bracing flavor up against the richness of the cream and pasta.



6 servings
Adapted from Nigel Slater’s Appetite

Fall Comfort Food

Roasted Butternut Squash and Spinach Salad with Toasted Almond Dressing
Surprising as it may be, salads can be just as comforting as any other fall dish. This one and the next are two prime examples. They would also make great side dishes for your Thanksgiving meal.

1 (2-2½ pound) butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into ¾-inch cubes
Note: I tried it recently with a mix of unpeeled delicata and peeled butternut. I prefer the butternut.
5½ tablespoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
½ cup slivered almonds
1½-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
¼-½ pound fresh spinach, stems discarded
½ cup dried cranberries

1. Put a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 450 F.
2. Toss the squash with 1½ tablespoons oil on a rimmed baking sheet; spread them out in one layer. Season with salt and pepper and roast, stirring once halfway through roasting, until the squash is just tender, pale golden, and just slightly caramelized, about 30 minutes. Cool on the sheet until warm, about 15 minutes.
3. Heat the remaining 4 tablespoons oil in a 10-inch heavy skillet over moderately low heat. Add the almonds and cook, stirring constantly until golden, about 3 minutes. Put a fine mesh sieve over at large bowl and pour the almonds into the sieve, catching the oil in the bowl. Let them both cool for about 10 minutes.
4. Whisk the lemon juice into the cooled oil until well combined. Add salt and pepper and taste for the right balance between oil and lemon.
5. Add the squash, spinach, dried cranberries, half the almonds, and gently toss to coat all the ingredients. Check for seasonings and add whatever you think is necessary. Serve the salad sprinkled with the remaining almonds.

Note: If you want to make this ahead, do everything except add the spinach to the salad and store in the fridge. Let the squash warm up a bit before serving. You may need to add a bit more dressing to the spinach if the squash has soaked it all up.

4-6 servings
Adapted from Ruth Reichl’s The Gourmet Cookbook

Prosciutto, Pear, and Parmesan Salad with Lemon and Chervil (or Dill) Vinaigrette
This is a gorgeous combination of flavors. I sometimes serve this salad for dinner without anything else. Last night we had it with the grilled cheese sandwiches below.

4 large handfuls arugula or watercress
2 ripe pears
Juice of 1 lemon
3½ ounces thinly sliced prosciutto
3½ ounces parmesan, sliced with a vegetable peeler
2 tablespoons small chervil sprigs or other fresh herb, like dill, coarsely chopped
Pepper
1 recipe of the Lemon and Chervil (or Dill) Vinaigrette, see recipe below

1. Put the greens in a bowl and pour over half of the dressing. Toss to combine.
Place on four individual salad plates.
2. Leaving the skin on, cut each pear into 8 pieces. Sprinkle them with the lemon juice to prevent discoloration.
3. Tear or cut the prosciutto into bite-size pieces. Scissors work well.
4. Arrange the pears and prosciutto over the greens. Scatter the parmesan and chervil or dill on top.
5. Drizzle the salads with more dressing. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Note: If you want to make this a dinner for 2, reduce the amounts to 1½ pears and 2 ounces of prosciutto.

4 side-salad servings or 2 dinner servings
Adapted from Jane Hann’s Salads: Cooking with Style

Lemon and Chervil (or Dill) Vinaigrette

4 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon finely chopped chervil or other fresh herbs, like dill
1 garlic clove, finely chopped or pressed
Salt and pepper

1. Combine all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl.
2. Whisk until well blended.

Makes ½ cup
Adapted from Jane Hann’s Salads: Cooking with Style

Grilled Sharp Cheddar Cheese and Cranberry Sandwiches
I almost burned these sandwiches. I pulled them out of the cast iron frying pan just in time.

10 ounces best quality cheddar cheese, thinly sliced
8 slices good quality firm white bread, such as challah
½-¾ cup Cranberry Walnut Relish with Grappa (from last week’s blog)
OR
Your own chilled cranberry sauce
About 4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter, at room temperature
Note: You can soften the butter in the microwave at 50% power for 1 minute.

1. On a cutting board, set out four slices of bread. Arrange half the cheese over the bread. Spread the relish over the cheese. Top the relish with the remaining cheese and set the remaining slices of bread on top. So it goes bread, cheese, cranberry, cheese, bread.
2. Evenly spread the top of each sandwich with about ½ tablespoon butter. Preheat the griddle or frying pan over medium/low heat. When hot, invert the sandwiches, butter side down, onto the pan. Quickly and evenly spread the tops of the sandwiches with the remaining butter. Cover and cook until the bottom is light golden and crisp, about 2½ minutes. Watch carefully. The sandwiches can burn so quickly.
3. Flip the sandwiches, cover the pan, turn the heat to low and cook until the bottom is golden brown, and the cheese is melting, another 2 to 2½ minutes. Again, watch carefully. Remove from the pan when done.
4. With a serrated knife, cut the sandwiches in half and serve immediately.

4 servings
Adapted from Carrie Brown’s The Jimtown Store Cookbook