Slashfood

Poll: Lightened-Up Comfort Foods

Slashfood Editor — 2009-11-06T11:30:00+00:00

Photo: Su-Lin, Flickr.

Got a family favorite or a calorie-laden comfort food classic you'd love to see lightened up? Vote for your favorite, or let us know in the comments below.

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Stuffed Carnivale Squash - Feast Your Eyes

Alexa Weibel — 2009-11-06T10:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Fall Flavors, Comfort Food, Thanksgiving, Feast Your Eyes, Tea

Photo: Laurapants, Flickr.

Stuffed anything is good this time of year -- and stuffing the cooked vegetable back in its original shell makes for an especially festive treat. The blogger behind Kitchen Illiterate put it simply: "Stuffed squash is stuffed goodness."

We second that -- especially in such a vibrant, flavorful concoction. First, the squash is roasted on its own. In the meantime, you cook the stuffing on the stove, a spicy cumin-cayenne scented rice with black beans, peppers and queso fresco. Once the squash is softened, you toss in the stuffing and throw it all back into the oven for ten minutes to allow the flavors to meld together, a roasted richness permeating the entire dish.

And to prove you can never get enough of a good thing, Kitchen Illiterate has also bestowed upon us a Spaghetti Squash with Swiss and Pancetta Bechamel, a White Bean and Sausage Stuffed Delicata Squash and a Southwestern Style Stuffed Acorn Squash. So get creative this Thanksgiving -- and don't worry about washing those fussy serving bowls!

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Butterscotch and Whiskey Bars - Feast Your Eyes

Alexa Weibel — 2009-11-02T10:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Recipes, Comfort Food, Feast Your Eyes

Photo: jwannie, Flickr.

Though we've never been able to choose sides on the vanilla-versus-chocolate debate, blondies as unique as these render the traditional brownie somewhat uninspired.

Frites & Fries' recipe for Butterscotch and Whiskey Bars inventively pairs the dulcet butterscotch with a not-so-subtle dash of whiskey (a quarter cup!), adding a pleasurably harsher nuttiness to what becomes a complex, sweet-savory confection. The grown-up recipe aims to please both those with a penchant for sweets and those with a weakness for whiskey -- and provides an easy, soul-warming wintery treat.

The flexible blondie serves as a vessel to showcase whatever ingredients you favor, from cranberry and white chocolate, to coconut and lime. What are your favorite blondie additions? Share your recommendations in the comments!

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Cheeseburger Soup Makes a Splash with Guy Fieri

Slashfood Editor — 2009-10-27T15:15:00+00:00

Filed under: Beef, Comfort Food, Soups/Salads, Food News

Cheeseburger soup at Kalie's Family Restaurant. Photo: playswithfood/flickr

It's a soup! It's a cheeseburger! It's cheeseburger soup?

Kalie's Family Restaurant in Cleveland serves up cheeseburger soup, but the restaurant is not alone.

Food Network's Guy Fieri hunts down the meaty concoction at Grover's Bar and Grill in East Amherst, N.Y. on "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives." The episode, called "Dives Worth a Drive," is airing Nov. 6, 7 and 8 on the Food Network.

Click here for a cheeseburger-soup recipe.

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Cheesy Corn Chowder with Bacon - Feast Your Eyes

Emily Farris — 2009-10-22T10:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Comfort Food, Soups/Salads, Feast Your Eyes

Photo: Ezra Pound Cake, Flickr.

Anyone who says the bacon craze is over clearly doesn't love bacon as much as we do or is, at the very least, unaware of all the ways bacon enhances our culinary world. And it's impossible to imagine any omnivore in his or her right mind hating on bacon when staring down at this bowl of cheddar corn chowder topped off with what blogger Ezra Pound Cake calls "God's confetti."

While the "hearty, creamy, comforting soup brimming with potatoes, corn, onions and sharp white-cheddar cheese" is enough to make anyone's mouth water, it's really the bacon on top that makes this Ina Garten recipe even more enticing.

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'A Beautiful Bowl of Soup' - Cookbook Spotlight

Alexa Weibel — 2009-10-21T14:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Comfort Food, Cookbook Spotlight, Soups/Salads

Photo: Hyperion

'A Beautiful Bowl of Soup: The Best Vegetarian Recipes'
by Paulette Mitchell
Photos by William Meppem
Chronicle Books-- 2004
Buy it on Amazon

A good bowl of soup is a wondrous thing, providing a warmth and satisfaction that only well-executed comfort food can supply. And "A Beautiful Bowl of Soup: The Best Vegetarian Recipes" does just that, dishing up a variety of recipes for slurps that are endlessly appealing on both visual and taste levels.

Carnivores, fret not: With soups this flavorful you won't be missing anything. These are soups for all occasions, from a refreshing Chunky Gazpacho for lazy summer suppers, to a Cream of Tomato Soup with Puff Pastry Crowns to end a long, cold day, or even the light Gingered Pear Soup to conclude a rich meal. And, perhaps more notable yet, each and every one boasts flavors so strong and textures so rich that the soups can serve as full meals on their own.

See what we tested and find out whether the book's worth buying after the jump.

Continue reading 'A Beautiful Bowl of Soup' - Cookbook Spotlight

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Slow Cooker Peach Cobbler

Slashfood Editor — 2009-10-20T17:15:00+00:00

Filed under: Fruit, Comfort Food, Slow cooking, Fall, Winter

Photo: ImipolexG, Flickr

The mercury's dropping which means it's time to break out that trusty crock pot for set-it-and-forget-it cold weather cooking.

Move over pot roast -- did you ever think of making cobbler in a slow cooker? The ice cream on top might be worth the extra wintry chill down your spine. Try replacing the blueberries in this recipe with frozen or canned peaches.

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All About Apple Crisps

Slashfood Editor — 2009-10-19T11:15:00+00:00

Filed under: Fruit, Comfort Food, Fall

Photo: bookgrl, Flickr

It's Apple pickin' season. So what to do with the orchard's abundance of apples? Simplify the iconic apple pie by making an apple crisp -- it's the flavor of fall without the fuss.

We rounded up a few of the best apple crisp recipes spied elsewhere on the Web..

Good Morning America offers a recipe for slow-cooked apple crisp in a crock pot.

"America's Test Kitchen" Host Chris Kimball upgrades this fall fruit favorite.

This apple crisp via The New York Times is topped with tortoni and macaroons.

The Washington Post dishes up lunchbox-friendly apple-crisps -- the "s" makes all the difference in interpretation.

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Healthier Ramen Noodles

Jennifer Iserloh — 2009-10-16T13:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Recipes, How To, Comfort Food, The Skinny Chef

Ramen noodles. Photo: Jennifer Iserloh.

Ramen noodles are the college student's best friend -- they're cheap, filling and taste great. But what happens when you graduate from college and want to start making smarter, and even better-tasting choices?

The old college girl in me just can't get over the crush I used to have on the 33-cents-a-pop ramen noodle package. (Beef was my favorite flavor.) So now that my budget has grown and my waistline has shrunk, I still like to make room for ramen noodles in my kitchen.

Get the recipe for healthier ramen after the jump.

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'What We Eat When We Eat Alone' - Q&A with Deborah Madison

Kat Kinsman — 2009-10-13T13:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Books, Comfort Food

Photo: Amazon

For me, it's cured fish or perhaps cold, leftover dark-meat chicken, gnawed bare-handed and shared with my minimally patient dogs.

For my husband -- who can't tolerate the smell of the pickled herring I down like a rabid porpoise -- it's almost inevitably the nearest Chinese joint's chicken and mixed vegetables sauteed in brown sauce, chased by a bourbon Old Fashioned, muddled from the unpretty orange that tags along in the delivery bag. The cocktail, I can fully support. The gloppily sauced crinkle-cut carrots have featured prominently in several of my nightmares.

These are rituals of a chosen solo cuisine, and Deborah Madison, author of "What We Eat When We Eat Alone", says it's not at all unusual that we're so diametrically opposed.

Deborah Madison: People eat what their spouses don't like a lot of the time. A number of men said of blood sausages, 'My wife doesn't like blood sausage, so when she's gone that's what I cook.'

Slashfood: How did you get started on this topic?

DM: Many years ago, I was invited to go with Oldways Preservation and Trust -- which is a food think tank out of Boston -- to a lot of Mediterranean countries. I got to bring my husband, who's an artist, and he was just a little awkward, I think. He didn't really know people but knew of them so he started asking this question kind of as a way of breaking the ice. He kept a little notebook and I never knew about this until I found it when we were moving a few years later.

SF: So many of the people you interviewed have common experiences -- they'll make a big steak or have herring. And then there were some that didn't fit the mold. What was the strangest thing you heard?

Read more about solo toast, herring and margarita mix after the jump.

Continue reading 'What We Eat When We Eat Alone' - Q&A with Deborah Madison

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Spooky Take on an After-School Staple

Slashfood Editor — 2009-10-07T15:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Comfort Food, Halloween, Fall

Rice Creepies Photo: Holidash

Our sister blog Holidash found these spooky Rice Creepies treats based on Rice Krispies treats. Check out Kendra Smoot's tasty Halloween sweets and submit your own before Oct. 31!

[Via Holidash]

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Pear Butter - Feast Your Eyes

Alexa Weibel — 2009-10-01T10:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Fruit, Condiments, Comfort Food, Feast Your Eyes, Fall

Photo: Rachel is Coconut&Lime, Flickr.

In this effortlessly elegant breakfast fix, pear butter replaces uninspired butter and jam. Warmly spiced with pear cider, ginger, allspice and cardamon, Coconut & Lime's concoction also works well wherever you'd usually dab butter (pancakes, waffles, muffins, etc.) -- and is even more versatile, deliciously swirled into the likes of yogurt, cottage cheese, hot cereal and more.

Cooked for 10 to 12 hours in a slow cooker, the condiment will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two months -- though we'd be surprised if it lasts half as long as its shelf life permits.

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Flashback to the Seventies: All-Purpose Marinara

Bruce Watson — 2009-09-28T11:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Frugal Food, Dinner, Vegetables, Recipes, America, Comfort Food, Italy, Retro cookery, Fall

Ripe summer tomatoes. Photo: The Ewan, Flickr.

In this weekly series, home cook Bruce Watson works his way through a decades-old family cookbook, adapting the best recipes exclusively for Slashfood.

When I was a kid, the end of the summer brought with it a painful, unpleasant tradition. Every August, when the farmers' market was filled with tomatoes, my parents would buy a few bushels, and the whole family would spend a couple of days blanching, peeling and processing the fruits. Every time, the process resulted in clothing and skin that reeked of tomatoes, fingers that stung and a freezer full of watery tomato sauce that we would defrost throughout the year.

As an adult, I have continued the tradition, although I make my sauce in the fall, when cooking pleasantly warms and perfumes the house, rather than turning it into a sweatbox. I also prefer using canned tomatoes, rather than fresh ones: In addition to sparing my fingers from burns, they produce a sauce that is richer, more flavorful and has a better texture than my parents' marinara. On the other hand, I still use my mom's recipe, which she learned from her Italian godmother, although I add a little bit of red wine vinegar, which gives the sauce more depth. Ultimately, it's a spicy, fennel-accented marinara that freezes well, tastes delicious and is inexpensive to make.

Get the recipe for all-purpose marinara after the jump.

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11 Secret Fast-Food Menu Items

Mike Pomranz — 2009-09-23T15:00:00+00:00

Filed under: How To, Comfort Food, Fast Food

The In-N-Out Animal Style. Photo: kaba, Flickr.

It is the stuff of fast-food chain legend: a secret menu known only to those insiders brave enough to order outside the listed menu. Tales of "animal-style fries" and Starbucks' secret "short" size abound, but which of these are real and which will merely earn you a quizzical stare from the cashier?

Ditch the risk of disappointment and become a fast-food insider with Slashfood's list of some top-secret menu items at well-known restaurants near you.

Continue reading 11 Secret Fast-Food Menu Items

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Skinny Chef Myth-Busting: Schnitzel Isn't Sausage

Jennifer Iserloh — 2009-09-21T13:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Recipes, How To, Europe, Comfort Food, Meat, The Skinny Chef

Photo: Jennifer Iserloh.

I'm not sure how this myth got started -- I used to believe it too, before I met my husband, who grew up in Germany. Every time I tell someone I'm making schnitzel for dinner, they talk about hot dog buns and sauerkraut. Then they try to convince me that I really meant sausage and they will go as far as to ambush random passersby to help corroborate their story.

In truth, the word schnitzel comes from the German term "schneiden" which means to cut, so schnitzel means cutlet. Thus, Wiener Schnitzel is not a cut-up hot dog, but rather a "cutlet from Vienna or Wien." See how I make it after the jump.

Continue reading Skinny Chef Myth-Busting: Schnitzel Isn't Sausage

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Feast for the New Year - Rosh Hashana Recipes

Lisa Schweitzer — 2009-09-18T16:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Dinner, Beef, Recipes, Comfort Food, Holidays, Fall

Photo: joshbousel Flickr.

Tonight marks the beginning of the Jewish new year -- Rosh Hashana -- and with that, a whole new cycle of holidays and special meals to go with it (in case you need another reason to justify that trip to Whole Foods).

This celebration involves quite a few riffs on the ever-popular salty-sweet flavor pairing. The sweetness in honey, apples, pomegranates and dates are added to many Rosh Hashana dishes and is often offset by the rich, savory taste of brisket or chicken.

It's tradition to begin ringing in Rosh Hashana with sliced apples and honey -- like a toast to a sweet new year. No recipe needed here, just hit up your farmer's market for some tart, crisp apples (try Macoun) and local honey.

Continue reading Feast for the New Year - Rosh Hashana Recipes

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September Food Festivals

Jose Ralat Maldonado — 2009-09-18T15:00:00+00:00

Filed under: West Coast, Vegetables, Midwest Rural, Southern States, Condiments, Comfort Food, Festivals, Local Eating, Fall

Photo: www.houstonhotsauce.com

September might be halfway over and autumn imminent, but that doesn't mean the fall food fun has to end. Here's a selection of September food fests across the country.

Nappanee Apple Festival, Nappanee, Ind., Sept. 17-20: Apple season is upon us. Many are headed to pick-your-own orchards. This festival includes an apple-peeling contest, apple bake-off, pie-eating contest and the world's largest baked apple pie, weighing in at 600 pounds and a whopping 7 feet across. There's a daily lumberjack show, too.

The Houston Hot Sauce Festival, Houston, Sept. 19-20: Hot sauce festivals are on fire! Nationwide, they're popular, chilehead blow-outs. Attendees can sample and purchase a plethora of sauces, chiles and dry rubs. Don't forget to vote in the People's Choice for the Hottest Hot Sauce at this ninth annual festival.

Continue reading September Food Festivals

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Archway Windmill Cookies Back on Shelves

Lisa Schweitzer — 2009-09-09T16:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Business, Baking, Comfort Food, Bakeries, Food News

Archway Windmill Cookies. Photo: Lance Inc.

After going into bankruptcy and closing its doors last October, cookie company Archway has been resuscitated.

Lance Inc. (of snack food fame) purchased Archway in December of last year, getting the Archway factory in Ashland, Ohio, back up and running as quickly as possible, an Archway spokeswoman tells Slashfood. Lance has since rehired most of its former employees and is in the process of rejuvenating the iconic brand, while staying true to the original recipes.

Continue reading Archway Windmill Cookies Back on Shelves

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Waffle House to Honor Loyal Customers

Sara Bonisteel — 2009-09-08T16:30:00+00:00

Filed under: Comfort Food, Fast Food, Food News

A cup of joe at Waffle House. Photo: mfajardo, Flickr.

If the local Waffle House just happens to be your second home, this is your week!

The chain, based in Norcross, Ga., is celebrating National Waffle Week by honoring its patrons -- those regulars who often duck in for a fix of T-bones, country ham, cheese 'n eggs and waffles.

Through Sept. 12, local Waffle Houses will be awarding their Top 20 customers with "Official Regular" pins, and more than 31,000 customers are expected to be honored at the chain's approximately 1,550 restaurants.

And as it's National Waffle Week, Waffle House is also rolling out a new flavor.

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Qué Es Queso and Why Are Texans So Enamored With it?

Jose Ralat Maldonado — 2009-09-02T16:00:00+00:00

Filed under: Parties, Hors D'oeuvres, Dairy, Cheese, Condiments, America, Comfort Food, Fast Food

Ro*Tel's Queso Dip Recipe. Photo: ConAgra Foods

"What the hell is that?" is the first question many non-Texans ask when they see the goopy Southwestern cheese dip chile con queso (queso for short and pronounced "kay-so"). The prevalent and heralded form of queso is a mixture of Velveeta and Ro*Tel canned tomatoes and chiles. It's usually orange, flecked with red and green chiles, and a crust forms when the dip begins to cool. At the risk of being run out of town: What's so good about that?

When queried, this writer's wife, a Texas native, her relatives and friends answer along the lines of "it's just so good!" Queso is good; so is cow's brains. Queso is creamy and spicy and won't run off a tortilla chip like other salsas. Crucial to understanding the dip is the facility with which it is prepared. Ready in five minutes, it's a fiesta favorite. Are there Texans at a party you're hosting? Whip out the queso and welcome the adulation. "It's just so good!"

Another reason is Lone Star pride. "Texans have a special place in their hearts for queso and Ro*Tel. Both originated in the state," says Mike Locascio, vice president and general manager at ConAgra Foods, Ro*Tel's manufacturer.

Continue reading Qué Es Queso and Why Are Texans So Enamored With it?

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