Foods that bring us joy
Now is the long, damp, Mud Season of our hearts. The weather see-saws madly from promisingly sunny to bitingly cold, seemingly on a whim. We’ve been inside with the same faces for just a bit too long. The comments that seem so funny before you actually say them fall to the floor with a thud and win you hard looks from your loved ones.
At times like this, when your patience is short, and your hopes have been knocked around, while you wait for the first robins and tulips of spring, is there anything that can keep you marching resolutely forward?
Comfort food.
We all have a food that bypasses the thinking part of our brain and stimulates our lizard brain, whispering of love and safety, and yes, comfort. It might be something your grandmother made for you when you were little. It might be something your roommate in college brought you when your heart was broken and you wouldn’t leave your bed for three days. It might be Champagne and smoked oysters to remind you that you deserve a little luxury in your life.
It might be toast and cold cereal.
What is your comfort food?
Macaroni and Cheese
“My personal go-to comfort food is served at my restaurant, mac and cheese. Mac and cheese. I love the way it feels in my stomach. I like the way it tastes. I like the fact that when I’m having a bad day it doesn’t involve a lot of thought, a lot of really anything — just delicious and warm and cheesy. I always put several cheeses in it when I make it. I like to do a little pepper jack in mine. I believe that that little bite is nice. I always put a little bit of Gouda. Sometimes I do some fontina. I kind of play with the cheese. It depends on what looks interesting.”
—MaryBeth Carcellino, co-owner, CodeX B.A.R., 29 Main St., Nashua
“I would have to say [my go-to comfort food is] mac and cheese, for sure. The best macaroni and cheese uses lots of different cheese combinations. And you have to put bacon in there, because bacon makes everything so good.”
—Krista Mellina, owner, The Twisted Mallow Marshmallow Co., 533-8455, twistedmallowcompany.com
Mac & Cheese
There are several approaches to homemade macaroni and cheese. Some of us are loyal to the boxed mac and cheese we had as children and swear by a stovetop version. For others only a baked, crusty-on-top version will do. This recipe takes inspiration from both schools, with a nod to southern-style mac and cheese, with a creamy, gooey interior but with a buttery, crumb topping.
10 ounces (285 grams) elbow macaroni – Yes, you can mix it up and go with a different shape of pasta (you could do a lot worse than radiator-shaped radiatori, in my opinion). But classics are classics for a reason, and you know that regular, bog-standard elbows will work perfectly. Now is not the time to play around experimenting with new pasta shapes.
- 4 Tablespoons butter
- 3 Tablespoons flour
- 2 Tablespoons dry mustard
- Half a small onion – white or yellow, pureed. If you have a mini-blender for making smoothies, it is perfect for this job.
- 3 cups (24 fluid ounces) whole milk – Some purists will tell you to heat the milk up before adding it to the recipe, which is definitely a nice touch, but I have never done this, and the Pasta Police have never issued me a citation.
- 2 bay leaves – If you don’t remember when you bought the bay leaves in your cupboard, throw them out and go buy some fresher ones.
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 large egg
- 8 ounces (225 g) shredded cheddar cheese
- 8 ounces (225 g) shredded Velveeta cheese – Yes, I know. This seems tacky, but it is the key to southern-style macaroni and cheese. If you were to say anything snarky about Velveeta at any church dinner in the South, you’d be chased out of town by a mob of angry women in large hats.
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Topping
- 3 Tablespoons melted butter
- 1 cup cracker crumbs – I like to use Cheez-Its
Preheat your oven to 350°F.
Boil the pasta in a large pot of salted water. On the box there will be a recommended cooking time. Boil the macaroni for the minimum suggested time — for instance, if it says, “eight to 10 minutes,” take it off the heat after eight. It will cook more in the oven, so you want it a bit al dente at this stage. Drain it and set it aside. Its time will come.
To make the cheesy part of this mac and cheese, you’re going to make what is called a béchamel sauce, a classic white cream sauce, then cheese it up. Start by melting the butter, then stirring it briskly with the flour and mustard powder until it darkens slightly. This is what fancy cooks call a roux. It will thicken the sauce.
Gradually stir in the pureed onion and the milk, then add the bay leaves and cook the mixture for 10 minutes or so, until the sauce thickens, then fish out the bay leaves and thank them for their service.
Beat the egg, then temper it into the sauce — this means to stir a spoonful of the hot béchamel at a time into the egg, slowly diluting it and bringing it up to temperature, without scrambling it. After a few spoonfuls of tempering, stir the eggy mixture into the sauce, and whisk it briskly, to make sure that it is distributed evenly throughout the sauce.
Stir in two thirds of each cheese, until it is combined and melted. Stir in the pasta.
Transfer the mixture to a large casserole dish, and top it with the remaining cheese.
Crush the crackers, then cook them in the melted butter until they start to smell nutty, then top the macaroni and cheese with them.
Bake the macaroni and cheese for 30 minutes, then remove it from the oven and let it cool for five to 10 minutes before serving.
A Smash-Burger
“My go-to comfort food would have to be a really good smash burger. … Basically, it would be just a perfect burger, really seasoned well … with various spices in it. I like to just throw in a kitchen sink of ingredients and some spices and see what sticks, then really smash it down, get a little crisp on it. There has to be caramelized onions as well. I sear it and watch it get juicy, then I put some nice cheese on it, some fresh cheese, a little bit of sliced Swiss cheese on it, but then also followed up with a blend of shredded cheeses, like pizza shredded mix, and get a nice little melt on that, and finish it with a little tangy barbecue sauce.
“I like mild-flavored cheeses [on my burger], because I like the texture of the cheese but I don’t want it to distract me from the flavor of the meat. I still want to get that good flavor of the meat itself with the spices that I mixed in, something like a Cajun spice mix. It’s about letting just really the spice and the meat take over, but have that sort of a nice complement. It’s usually on the weekend that I need a burger fix, usually when I’m watching sports — March Madness is coming up.
“One detail that some people overlook is the bun. It should be toasted, inside and outside. I do a little bit of butter and some garlic on it.”
—Eric Lesniak, Manchester Economic Development Office
Dim Sum (A variety of Chinese dumplings)
“My personal go-to comfort food would have to be dim sum. I grew up in New York City and every Sunday we would take the train down to Canal Street and we would do our shopping and we would go and have dim sum. So I have a very strong childhood association with it.”
—Caroline Arend, owner/chef, Caroline’s Fine Food and The Pot Pie Bar, 649 Mast Road, Manchester, 432-1927, thepotpiebar.com
Pizza
“For me, the best comfort food is probably pizza. I prefer a thin crust. I like mushrooms on mine, so that’s what I’ll usually get, but sometimes sausages or pepperoni. My pizza story goes back a ways. When I went to law school in New York City, there was Ray’s Pizza, which claimed to be the original New York pizza. (I think it’s been copied, and now there’s a battle over who’s the original Ray’s or whatever.) But nearby, there was Ray’s, and you could get an everything piece of pizza. And at the time, it cost quite a bit. I don’t know what that was, but it would be a meal to get one piece of Ray’s everything. That has stuck with me.
“Beyond that, my daughter likes pepperoni, so that’s what I end up getting a lot of the time.”
—Jim Donchess, Mayor of Nashua
American Chop Suey
“I love the American Chop Suey from the Red Arrow Diner [112 Loudon Road, Concord, 415-0444; 137 Rockingham Road, Londonderry, 552-3091; 61 Lowell St., Manchester, 626-1118; 149 DW Highway, Nashua, 204-5088, redarrowdiner.com]. It has your tomato sauce, and macaroni, and beef — cooked, ground beef. When I am stressed out and super busy and super hungry, It just is a bowl of warmth and sustenance. It fills me up. I don’t regret any bite that I take. And of course, there they serve it with garlic bread. And it’s just, oh, it makes me think of my grandmother.
“My grandmother was not a very elaborate cook, but she had these basics that she relied on. And one of them was macaroni and whatever. And so I remember her making something along those lines. She would make macaroni and cheese, but she would put tomato sauce in it and she called it ‘Blush and Bunny.’ And so the American chop suey makes me think of Blush and Bunny.”
—Lauren Cline, owner/operator, Slightly Crooked Pies, 1209 Elm St., Manchester, 661-4575, slightlycrookedpies.com
Chocolate cinnamon cake
My chocolate cinnamon cake is absolutely one of the best things that makes me feel happy at all times. It’s just absolutely delicious. It’s actual, rich chocolate, it’s got cinnamon in it, so it has a little bit of different flavor to it, and then a really creamy, fudgy cinnamon chocolate cream. It’s not cream cheese, but frosting for the top. It’s delicious. I’ll have it for breakfast sometimes, if the day seems like it’s going to be long, to get me through the day.
—Denise Nickerson, owner, The Bakeshop on Kelley Street, 171 Kelley St., Manchester, 624-3500, thebakeshoponkelleystreet.com
Shepherd’s Pie
“What is my go-to comfort food? Definitely shepherd’s pie. My mom used to make it when I was a kid, and I’ve always really loved it. I love the combination of meat, vegetables and potatoes. You know, I also like mashed potatoes. So shepherd’s pie just appeals to me because it’s kind of an efficiency meal. Everything is all right there in one place on the plate, rather than spread around. So when you eat it you kind of eat it all together. It always makes me think of a cold winter day back when I was a kid and my mom would put it on the table, and it would be hot and steamy while it was cold outside. To me, it’s perfect.”
—Byron Champlin, Mayor of Concord
Shepherd’s Pie
Shepherd’s pie is infinitely adaptable. You can put as much effort into making it as you want, but it also lends itself to shortcuts, one of which is used in this recipe.
- 1 Tablespoon butter
- 1 pound ground beef, ground lamb, or plant-based “burger meat”
- Half a cup (a large handful) of chopped onion
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 Tablespoon dried herb mixture (optional)
- Another Tablespoon butter
- 1 16-ounce package of frozen corn
- More salt and pepper to taste
- 1 24-ounce container of frozen mashed potatoes – Ideally you’ll have saved some homemade mashed potatoes, or you could make some from scratch now, but for this dish you will be just as well served by the pre-packaged prepared stuff from the supermarket.
- Three more Tablespoons butter
- Paprika – I like the smoked, Spanish stuff
Preheat your oven to 350°F.
Melt a tablespoon of butter in a skillet, and cook the beef (or lamb, or Impossible Burger) and onion, stirring occasionally, until it looks like taco meat. Season it to taste. Transfer it to a casserole dish.
Melt another tablespoon of butter in the skillet, and cook the corn in it, until it has browned slightly and smells corny. Season it with salt and pepper, then transfer it to the same casserole dish, on top of the meat, building a second layer.
Prepare the mashed potatoes according to the instructions on the package, then transfer that to the same casserole dish, spreading it in an even layer over the corn. Top it with chunks of the rest of your butter, then sprinkle the top of the potatoes with paprika.
Bake until the potatoes have started to brown slightly, about 30 minutes, then remove it from the oven and let it cool for five to 10 minutes before serving on separate plates, or just eat it yourself with a fork, if it’s been that kind of day.
Ice Cream Sundae
“I think when I’m really sad, what I like to do is I go get ice cream, and the more sad I am the more elaborate the sundae. Like, you know, if I’m just a little bit sad, maybe I’ll just get like a little bit of hot fudge on there, and then maybe if I’m like in crisis I’m doing whipped cream, hot fudge and sprinkles, the whole thing, you know what I mean?”
—Nick Sands, comedian and host of the Nick Sands Presents podcast, youtube.com/@nicksandspresents
Chardonnay
“I’m firmly of the opinion that you can’t go wrong with a taco, any type, any time, anywhere, but instead of comfort food, I think more of comfort wine. An oaky chardonnay is my go-to. If I need comfort, if I’ve had my heart broken, I’m thinking less of ‘What am I going to eat?’ and more of going straight to my wine fridge. That’s where my emotional attachment is.”
—Emma Stetson, owner, Wine on Main, 9 N. Main St., Concord, 897-5828, wineonmainnh.com
Popcorn
“Popcorn. It’s all about popcorn for me. About 20 years ago my best friend passed away. She was my roommate as well, and she was killed in a car accident. A bunch of us all used to spend time together just watching movies and eating popcorn. And so now eating popcorn brings up important memories for me. I’ve learned how to make it at home really well. And there’s just nothing that compares to it. I use coconut oil and pink sea salt. I like butter and nutritional yeast, but I couldn’t care less if it’s on my popcorn. I do have a weird habit, though — I like throwing some unsalted peanuts in there, and just kind of like ruffle it around. For some reason I don’t like a lot of salt when it’s just going to sting my tongue and my mouth and stuff, so that’s also why I go with the unsalted peanuts, and the pink salt’s already on the popcorn, so [the combination] is all good.”
—Sarah Maillet, owner, 815 Cocktails & Provisions, 815 Elm St., Manchester, 782-8086, 815nh.com
Thanksgiving Sandwich
“My go-to comfort food would be a Thanksgiving sandwich with turkey and stuffing and cranberry sauce — the whole-berry kind — on a nice, thick, white bread. It’s not tied to any particular memories; it’s just very yummy. “
—Kristi St. Laurent, President, Andres Institute of Art, 106 Route 13, Brookline, 673-7441, andresinstitute.org
Welsh Rarebit
“I’ve always told people that my favorite comfort food is a grilled cheese sandwich, because of my warm memories of my mother making it for me with tomato soup when I was a child. But strangely, I just got off the phone with my mother back in the U.K., and she told me that she never made me a grilled cheese sandwich. She said that she made me Welsh rarebit, which makes a little more sense, because she’s Welsh.”
—Emma Round, owner, Unwined Bistro and Wine Bar, 1 Nashua St., Milford, 213-6703, unwinednh.com
Welsh rarebit is one of those dishes that, if you already know about it, you feel like everyone in the world knows about it, and then discover that it is new and exotic to the people you tell about it. It is a Welsh/sometimes British take on cheese fondue, served over the best toast you can make.
Welsh Rarebit
- 4 Tablespoons (half a stick) butter
- 8 ounces (225 grams) grated cheddar cheese – I like a smoked cheddar, like Old Croc.
- 2 ounces (57 grams) grated Swiss cheese
- Half a teaspoon Dijon or whole-grain mustard
- ¼ cup (2 ounces) very dark beer – porter is good for this.
Toast
Five to six slices of Very Good Bread – sourdough, for instance, liberally buttered.
In a double boiler, melt half a stick of butter, then stir in the cheese, until it is thoroughly melted. Whisk in the mustard and beer, and stir until it has made a silky cheese sauce.
In a skillet, fry the bread, as if you were making a grilled cheese sandwich — one side only. In the U.K., people inexplicably only toast bread on one side.
Serve the toast, covered by a generous amount of cheese sauce. Be reminded that life is generally better than you give it credit for.
