Comfort Food (Yum)

[Japanfan]

When I'm sick or super tired only Campbell's Tomato soup will do. It's the ultimate comfort food for me especially with Ritz crackers. If I'm too hungry for just soup then a grilled cheese sandwich pairs nicely. I love tuna salad made with albacore but I hate tuna made any other way. Tuna casserole is the worst.

For me it's homemade tomato soup. I chop a bunch of tomatoes (about 12) and then fry them up with lots of garlic, fresh ground pepper, and oregeno and/or basil or italian spice mix. I may add a bit of chicken stock.

Then I process the tomatoes and stock. Reheat to eat and sprinkle with parmesan reggiano cheese, add some more fresh pepper if desired. It's so yum!

As to tuna casserole, it's one of our go-to comfort food dinners. We use the same recipe my mother used so many years ago, adding a Campbell's cream soup and a ton of cheese to the noodles. We also add bacon sometimes, and maybe spinkle some breadcrumbs over the mix on top.

And now I'm reminded of my mom's kiegel. The ingredients were noodles, chicken fat, and onion soup mix. Such a culinary incorrect dish these days and obviously not a very healthy dish. But goodness it was delicious. I will keep it in mind for leftover fat the next time I roast a chicken. And chicken roasting season approaches, given that we are already into September.

 

[Susan1]

We need single serving casseroles. I suppose we could use ramekins. I've always thought of comfort food as homemade but I do have to admit I fell for Sam's Choice Mexican Lasagna and of course it was discontinued. There are plenty of recipes though.

Ramekins wouldn't work with tater tot "casserole"! ha ha You spread ground beef in a baking dish, then tater tots, then the soup. (I guess some people also add vegetables?) I bought the smallest bag of tater tots I could find - 2lbs. And only used half the can of soup. Wasteful.
Same with making Cracker Barrel's hash brown casserole - 1/2 the recipe. I actually had that two days in a row and had to throw the rest away. And a bag full of hash browns in the freezer.

Getting off the subject - not "comfort" food, just dinner for one I used to buy practically every week. Stouffer's pork chop. Gone. Red Baron thin crust slices. Gone. Too many to list.

edited off topic p.s. - I've seen maybe two episodes of Unwrapped 2.0. (I saw all of the original ones several times.) So I'm flipping channels and what shows up? Fannie Mae mint meltaways (used to be Fannie Farmer frosted french mint). We used to buy them in bars at the Fannie Farmer store at the mall. Sigh.

 

[taf2002]

I'm not a fan of most casseroles, esp when they have mystery ingredients. But I do love my Chicken Spaghetti casserole. You layer cooked spaghetti, pieces of chicken, grated cheddar cheese, & pour your blended stock all over it, then bake. Yum! And it freezes well too so you can make it ahead.

 

[Japanfan]

I'm not a fan of most casseroles, esp when they have mystery ingredients.

 

[Matryeshka]

I love reading threads that are really unintentional cultural divides—most of the foods listed here I wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pirogue push pole.

Where is the gumbo? The fish meuniere? Where is the red beans and rice? The etouffee?

 

[floridaice]

My college alumni group had a football watch party Saturday (played ULL) -- crawfish & shrimp boil. Peeled what didn't get eaten -- I have several cups of crawfish in the freezer. Will be making some etouffee once Dorian gets away from Florida.

 

[gk_891]

I love soups made from the feet or tails of animals (like cows, pigs, etc.). All the marrow, collagen, and gelatin gives the broth such an amazing depth of flavour. Add whatever seasonings you want in addition to some ground provisions like yams, eddoes, pumpkin, etc., and you've got a complete meal.

 

[Japanfan]

I love soups made from the feet or tails of animals (like cows, pigs, etc.). All the marrow, collagen, and gelatin gives the broth suck an amazing depth of flavour.

I'll have to give that a try. Providing that I can find somewhere that sells feet or tails. The only feet I've ever seen was at a Chinese grocery store. They also sold pig's uteri and blood! But no tails as I recall.

Has anyone ever tried oxtail soup? I see oxtail sometimes at the store I shop at, and think I should give it a try.

 

[gk_891]

I'll have to give that a try. Providing that I can find somewhere that sells feet or tails. The only feet I've ever seen was at a Chinese grocery store. They also sold pig's uteri and blood! But no tails as I recall.

Has anyone ever tried oxtail soup? I see oxtail sometimes at the store I shop at, and think I should give it a try.

I often boil the cow or pig's feet for hours (the entire day basically). When the soup cools in the fridge, it becomes a hard jelly which gives you an indication as to how much gelatin is in there.

I flavour my soups with Caribbean green seasoning (a blend of garlic, onion, green onions, shado beni, spanish thyme, fine leaf thyme, pimento pepper, and scotch bonnet pepper) and for ground provisions I like adding Jamaican yellow yam (if I can find any - if I can't I will use Caribbean sweet potatoes), eddoes, and pumpkin. Sometimes I might use green bananas.

There's a soup in Jamaica called Mannish Water that's also amazing.

Mannish water - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I like mine without dumplings though since I need to be gluten free.

Oxtail is amazing. I definitely recommend it.