Comfor•table

Egg, anyone?

A year or so ago, Nalin subscribed to this independent zine affectionately titled Put a egg on it. It aspires to be "about food, cooking and the communal joys of eating with friends and family." And, as its name aptly suggests, it does happen to include many ideas for food made more delicious with the addition of a fried egg on top. How could we pass that up! Its November 7th blog entry starts out with good advice: "On a chilly night, it’s good to have shepherd’s pie — slightly buttery smashed parsnips on top of slow cooked beef stew crisped under the broiler. Yum." Well, that is sort of how tonight's meal came to be, but not due to having read that entry ahead of time. Rather, seeing fall descend upon us now like a heavy cloud at 4:30 p.m., and feeling rather chilly to boot, a pie of sorts sounded just the ticket. I guess many of us are just on the same page.

What we did instead was a fish pie, inspired by The Naked Chef Takes Off, the recipe book by a Jamie Oliver who looks little more than 16 on the cover. This book has the most amazing comfort food recipes; maybe that's because he tends to use pancetta or bacon in almost everything. Well, his Fish Pie recipe doesn't have bacon in it, but given the caloric punch, it might as well have. It's a pretty easy thing to create: Boil some potatoes for mashing (with a little olive oil and salt and pepper) and a couple of eggs for quartering; steam some spinach or greens; sauté some onions and carrots (I also added some halved brussels sprouts) and then add heavy cream until it comes to a boil (adding a little mustard, a little lemon, chopped parsley, and a couple of handfuls of cheddar or Parmesan to the mix after taking off the heat); cut white fish fillets into strips; and then assemble all together in a cast iron or enamel pot that can go into the oven near the top on 450 degrees for 30 minutes or until browned in this order:

• Spinach, fish and eggs at the bottom
• Creamy vegetable mixture in the middle
• Mashed potatoes on top

Voila. Fairly quick meal in just one pot. Just how we like it best. And with the cream and cheese, just about the epitome of comfort. Of course this gets me thinking about other comfort food we like during the fall and winter months. My dear friend, Heike, just bought me the most amazing book as an early birthday present. It is The Family Meal: Home cooking with Ferran Adria, the legendary chef of elBulli. And it is sublime. Some of the recipes I have already tried are amazingly simple, use the most basic of ingredients, and speak to comfort in the most tangible of ways, through taste:

• Polenta & Parmesan gratin (I served this with a simple tin of smoked sardines in tomato sauce on the side; I swear, I'm feeling more and more like my grandparents every day)
• Baked apples with honey, brandy and cream (this was the best way to eat all those apples we picked!)
• Sausages with mushrooms and garlic (I mixed in a few peppers as well)
• Mexican-style slow-cooked pork (for tacos)
• Oranges with honey, olive oil & salt (need I say more?)

There are 31 meals in this book, one for every day of the month. I can't wait to go through them all. But in the meantime, whether it is a braise of meat and lentils, a tagine of chicken and preserved lemons, or a lovely Japanese stew, winter affords us the opportunity to try out many new things, if not for the simple reason that standing in front of a hot stove is actually quite comforting in and of itself during those cold, windy nights.

Here's to comfort; here's to life.