Fall Comfort Food

With the cool, wet weather, I've been hunkering down and focusing on my loose recipes that feel the coziest, as well as ones that use ingredients that I've already got in the house, though I have had to make a few grocery store trips for supplemental ingredients.

Since Sunday's post, I've prepared three recipes and an additional one is in the oven as I type. None of them are completely new, but hey, it is in the middle of the week. New recipes are better saved for weekends.

Monday's dinner was speedy and delicious, though not particularly healthy:

Linguine with Smoked Salmon in Cream Sauce 

(another recipe from Better Homes & Gardens Pasta Cookbook)

• 8 oz. dried linguine, fettuccine or spaghetti (this would have been the perfect time to use the second half of my lemon pepper pasta if it had not gone fuzzy around the edges - fortunately, I had dried pasta in the cupboard)
• 6 oz. sliced smoked or fresh salmon (I've made it with both, but this time used smoked, as it is much faster)
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced (1/4 c.)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 T butter
• 1 c. whipping cream
• 1 T fresh dill or 1 t dried dill
• 1 t finely shredded lemon peel
• 1/4 t pepper
• 2 T grated Parmesan
• Fresh dill springs (opt.)

Cook pasta. Drain; keep warm. Meanwhile, cut salmon into thin strips; set aside.

For sauce, in large skillet cook green onion & garlic in butter till tender. Add salmon & cook for 1 minute. Stir in whipping cream, dill, lemon peel and pepper. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cook at gentle boil about 5 min. or until thickened slightly. Remove from heat.  Add cheese. Toss pasta and sauce.

Yes, it is decadent, but the lemon peel helps cut some of the richness. The recipe says it serves 4, but we often just have dinner and leftovers for one person's lunch.

Dinner was so simple, I had plenty of energy to bake dessert - a chocolate cookie recipe that I copied down from some former coworkers at the Wallingford Library. With such a short commute, I used to bring baked goods to work a couple of times a month. Now - not so much.

• 2 1/4 c. flour
• 2/3 c. unsweetened cocoa (I used Dutch-processed cocoa, which let me omit the baking soda)
• 1 t baking soda 
• 1/4 t salt
• 1 c. butter, softened
• 3/4 c. granulated sugar
• 2/3 c. firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 t. vanilla
• 2 eggs

One coworker added 1 c. of dark chocolate chips and 1 c. of toffee bits, while another added "tons" of white chocolate chips and "tons" of toffee bits. I chose 1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1 c. toffee bits this time, but I've made it both other ways and they are always delicious.

Combine first 4 ingredients in a bowl. Beat butter and next 3 ingredients in medium speed until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until blended after each addition. Gradually add flour mixture, beating at low speed until blended. You can change to using a strong wooden spoon at this point. Stir in chocolate chips and toffee. Do a better job of blending than I did, as my first cookies were heavy on chocolate and toffee, while my last cookies had virtually none.

Drop dough by heaping tablespoons onto parchment paper-lined baking sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until puffy. Cool on baking sheet 2 minutes, then remove to wire racks to finish cooling.

Cooks way too many cookies for two people, so I brought some to work for the first time in ages.

Last night we ate Spicy African Peanut Stew, originally printed from the Peas and Thank You website that has since been shut down. I chose not to make it in the slow cooker this time around, which actually made it more delicious, as the peanut butter spread more evenly throughout the stew. I also added both 1/2 c. of red lentils and 1/2 c. of quinoa, instead of one or the other. I only had about 1 1/4 c. of broth, so I added soy milk until I had 2 c. liquid. And I totally skipped the stevia - that's one ingredient that kind of freaks me out, plus the sweet potato is sweet enough to forego any extra sweetener. So hearty and satisfying both last night and for this afternoon's lunch.

Tonight we dine on Beet & Beet Green Gratin. I roasted the beets last night to make it a little faster from start to table. We've had this a few times, but not for a couple of years. I like the fact that it uses both beets and beet greens, as I'm forever composting slimy beet greens. I have the best of intentions, but never actually use them for anything.

What comfort food recipes have you been preparing?