Comfort Foods

What is your favorite comfort food? You know. The one you just want that brings back memories, or makes you happy, full and content for the rest of the day.

Me? I have a few. But my ultimate favorite is lasagna.

Yep. A wedge of lasagna with some crusty bread, a side salad and a good Chianti. Makes everything right in the world.

Today I did my not so frequent marathon to make lasagna. Using what I had here. Improvising. It still tasted awesome, even if I didn’t have ricotta in it.

A mix of freezer foods and CSA items. Plus, my favorite Pappardelle’s
bought at Secolari this week.

Pork and ground beef. Big boy tomatoes from the freezer. A can of tomato paste to thicken. Italian herbs. Salt. Pepper. Garlic powder.

Makes a basic sauce.

Then, we move into the nontraditional. Garlic scape pesto. Chevre. Milk. Eggs. Pecorino Romano.

Somewhere in the same world as béchamel, but not really. And, a block of fresh mozzarella, that I picked up at Friends and Farms Wednesday when I got my basket. The mozzarella was sliced and layered, I like those melty slabs of mozzarella in the middle of the layers.

Before it went into the oven for 90 minutes.

After it was done. Crispy and brown on top. Oozing mozzarella when you cut it.

And the best part.

All those leftovers. One in the fridge. Three in the freezer. Before I freeze them, I cover them tightly with plastic wrap to keep them from getting freezer burned. Pop them out. Into a baking dish. Way better than that Stouffer’s stuff.

The most expensive part of this meal? Those noodles. But, oh what noodles! If you have never tried Pappardelle’s noodles, you have to get to Secolari and buy some. The lasagna noodles are seasonally carried. They don’t have them in the summer. These noodles are so soft they almost melt in your mouth. Seriously. I used a little over half a pound in today’s large lasagna.

Make some memories. Lasagna is a great place to start.