Comfort Foods and Indulgences

So simple looking yet packed with an unreal amount of flavor, not to mention its perfectly thick consistency.  It's just the way I like my soup, creamy, cheesy and yummy.

Cheddar cheese soup has always been a favorite of mine but when made at home it can often turn out lumpy.  Cheddar has a tendency to clump together or get grainy when added to a hot liquid.

One way to solve the clumping issue is to grate the Cheddar finely and add it to the soup once it's removed from the heat; do not boil the soup once the Cheddar has been added   The cheese will melt easily and you will end up with an amazing meal. 

Using a good quality sharp, white Cheddar will yield the most flavor and you won't believe what an incredible taste this soup has, it's definitely company worthy.  Serve some fresh baked bread on the side and you have the perfect meal.

I seldom watch football. But, I never pass up a Super Bowl party. It’s not the football game that lures me. It’s the food. Super Bowl Sunday is one of the best food days of the year. While the football fans hoot and holler, you’ll find me dipping chips, nibbling spicy chicken wings, loading up a bowl of chili with lots of toppings, slipping sliders onto my plate and maybe grabbing a slice of pizza.

My contributions to the Super Bowl feast this year will include a couple of these Super Bowl Pizza Rolls. It doesn’t take long to assemble a roll with refrigerated pizza crust dough, meat, Italian seasoning blend and plenty of cheese.

I made one Pizza Roll just before my husband came home for lunch, using hot Italian sausage as the meat. By the time he headed back to work, the long loaf was just about gone.

It is the time of year when the spring fiddlehead foragers return to our store to sell us chanterelle mushrooms packed into rounded over Tupperware containers. It is an exceptional year for chanterelle mushrooms because it has rained a lot in Maine this summer and that make them grow large, luscious and most abundant.

We eat mushrooms regularly at our house usually sautéed in a combination of butter and olive oil with a touch of minced garlic at the end but once in a while I make “the dish”. The ultimate chanterelle preparation is combining the mushrooms with lobster meat, cream and cognac. I know what you are thinking; how rich… Yes, but spoon a small portion on a beautiful plate and eat slowly as you ponder how anything could taste this wonderful..

I use 1 pound of chanterelle mushrooms and I pick out the largest ones. Wipe them clean, trim the bottom of the stem off and I like to pull the mushrooms apart by hand keeping the pieces fairly large. The reason I prefer the mushroom pulled into large pieces is because it’s the star of the dish. You’ll see.

I like Worcestershire Sauce.  I admit it.  One of the things I like about it is its name – how it was that extra thing in it – wor-cest-er-(shur)-ire sauce. I like the bottle, how it comes wrapped almost like a present.  It’s almost a guilty pleasure, a secret ingredient that you don’t necessarily want to reveal, like sugar in spaghetti sauce, or sour cream in anything, or ketchup on a steak which I don’t feel guilty about, at all. 

I don’t pour Worcestershire Sauce on top of steaks and grill them, the way my Dad used to in the backyard.  But sometimes I just have to make my mother’s cottage cheese dip.  It’s really great.  And it’s really soothing.  And I fool myself into thinking that it might even be good for you, well, sort of.  But take my advice, if anyone asks you what’s in it, you might consider saying, “You don’t want to know.”