Every Thanksgiving, I try to watch my copy of Babette’s Feast, which, if you haven’t seen it, is an amazing and beautiful film.
So this seems especially cool, though totally out of my price range: as part of Zagat’s Vintage Dinner Series this year, on 12 January, Café des Artistes will present the entire menu from the movie, from turtle soup to quail in puff pastry. A lecture on the film will follow the dinner, which is priced at $160.00 per person.
If I could send myself and some readers, I totally would, but there’s no freaking way. But! I can give a luck ready a DVD copy of the movie. So if you’d like to win a copy of Babette’s Feast, leave a comment and tell me your favorite dish that you like to prepare. Recipe optional. Me, my favorite recipe to prepare on winter nights is a red bean and barley soup with sweet and hot Italian sausage. The whole house smells warm, friendly, and slightly spicy – which is perfect.
Grilled Cheese.
So many variations that I love but nothing better on a cold night crunchy buttery bread with melted cheese. Yum. The ultimate comfort food.
I don’t cook much – that’s the husband’s job, and he’s damned good at it. But I do bake and am excellent at party food. My chocolate chip cookies are legendary. The recipe I use is a simple one, from the stand mixer’s cookbook, but I use dark chocolate chips instead of milk or semi-sweet. And I always undercook slightly so they are soft and gooey. I may have to go eat one right now.
I’ll have to go with a recipe for Chipotle Buffalo Chili that I learned to make from a cooking class I took a couple of years ago in San Francisco. Mmmmmm.
Ya’ll are going to think this sounds disgusting, but everyone I’ve ever made it for has really enjoyed it. I call it Crazy Spaghetti Sauce and it was one of those throw together meals you end up with when there isn’t really much in the house to eat. My best friend kind of invented it when we were young, but years later I made it again from memory and wrote down a recipe for it.
Crazy Spaghetti Sauce
2 Jalapeño Peppers (1 for milder sauce)
1 15 oz. Can of Tomato Sauce
3 Tbsp Kraft Mayonnaise
2 tsp Mustard
1. Dice your Jalapeños. You can remove the seeds if you don’t want it really hot.
2. In your sauce pan, combine Jalapeños, Tomato Sauce, Mayo and Mustard.
4. Heat to a high simmer, stirring frequently, until the color darkens slightly.
I love, love, love soup. So, that is what I make most frequently for dinner and bring leftovers to work for lunch. The best thing about soup is that you can just about add any leftovers to it when reheating and it’s like a new dish with new flavors. Currently, lentil kale soup with some sausage and barley thrown in is my favorite.
Babette’s Feast is one of my all-time favorite movies ever. Whenever I’m in a bad mood or need to unwind, I put in my copy of it and just sit back and feel myself grow happier. It’s such a lovely movie. So quiet, and so sparkling, and so full, and so gracious, and so good. And the food is so delicious-looking, although I always feel bad for that turtle!
my favorite thing to make for dinner?
reservations!
but after reading all the yummy comments, I’m sorely tempted to do a cross-country comfort food blitz, visiting you all!
I’ll bring the wine and plenty of chocolate!
Manicotti. I was thinking of preparing a pan this weekend, although I was torn between spinach manicotti and meat (burger or sausage) manicotti. However, the pine nuts are not optional.
I don’t cook very well, but strangely enough the one thing that I can reliably make is a Japanese-style chicken curry. Every porous surface in the apartment smells like curry for a week afterwards, but damn is it tasty.
Mary Beth – Hooray for pierogies!
Honey-mustard pistachio chicken. I found the recipe on allrecipes.com and my husband was a goner. I serve it over angel hair.
I like when some authors have recipes in their books, like Julie Ortolon and Shirley Jump. I always copy them down to try.
I’m not the best cook, but when the mood strikes me I love to make deserts like coconut chocolate-chip cookies or fudge.
So. Many. Choices. I love cooking.
I rediscovered an old favourite this week. My boyfriend’s mother gave us her old Better Homes & Gardens cookbook (the ring-binder one with the red gingham cover), which my mother also had, and there’s a great recipe for buttercream cake frosting in it.
I don’t think my mom ever used the exact proportions. It’s something you eyeball until you get the right texture. The recipe in the book starts with 4.5 cups of confectioner’s sugar, 6 tablespoons of butter, and milk or cream as needed. You soften the butter at room temperature, whip it with an electric mixer until it’s fluffy, and then start adding sugar. If it’s too thick and not spreadable, put a few drops of milk or cream in. If it’s too thin and runny, add a few spoons of sugar. Eventually you have enough frosting to cover your cake, and the texture is right.
At some point in there you can also add a teaspoon of vanilla extract or whatever other flavour you want it to be.
One of my favorite recipes anytime of year is black bean soup. It’s hearty and spicy. The soup can simmer for hours, or you can take a short-cut and use canned beans. I serve it with cilantro-almond pesto (or chopped cilantro when time is short), sour cream, grated cheese, salsa, chopped green onions, guacamole or avocados when available, and warm tortillas. Delicious!
Oh, what a delightful movie.
My favorite thing to make is hoska, a traditional Czech bread. First, because it’s delicious, and (as a bonus) nothing makes the house smell quite as good as bread baking. I usually make it at holidays, which means it’s associated with family. The moreso because my grandmother made it every Christmas, but as she got older, she couldn’t knead it, and so she taught me how. It’s something I’d like to pass on too, one day.
my favourite thing to make is my mother’s spaghetti sauce. I know it sounds so boring and basic, but I love the smells and all the ingredients. we make a huge pot of sauce to freeze and a big lasagna for supper. the sauce always tastes so perfectly spicy and sweet and exactly like home.
I made a tarte tatin recently for the first time—it’s a sort of French upside-down apple tart. The amazing thing about it is that there are basically three ingredients—sugar, butter, apples (plus flour, more butter, and a couple of eggs for the crust) but it’s the most apple-y apple dessert I have ever tasted. But anything that has that much butter in it has by definition to be good. It was rated as a difficult recipe and the author warned that it could turn into a soggy mess (with that much butter?—who cares), but it wasn’t that hard and it was absolutely delicious and impressed the other eaters no end.
Such a great movie.
My favorite thing to make on a cold night are paninis. Cut a couple thin slices from a sourdough or french loaf, layer on dark greens, sliced tomato, cold chicken and cheese. Add a little dijon mustard, then butter the outside of bread and drop the whole thing on the counter-top grill for about 3 to 7 minutes.
A nice big pot of corn chowder with spicy Italian sausage rather than ham. Always love that. It’s tasty, easy, and has a nice kick on a warm day. Goes great with fresh, crusty rolls with lovely soft insides.
I don’t know why, but I just can’t eat black beans. I’m Mexican America and my whole family likes black beans, but me? I just can’t stand them.
I got a pasta maker for my birthday last year and I have to say making my own pasta with pink sauce (marinara cream) from scratch is my favorite thing to cook at the moment. It tastes amazing (it’s so hard to go back to storebought pasta after having the homemade) and takes a minimum of effort, but a lot of love. Plus, my tiny apartment smells like garlic for the rest of the day (and usually the next day), and I love garlic.
The pasta dough is eggs and flour and salt (and maybe some olive oil, or spinach if you wanted spinach pasta)
The marinara cream is tomatoes, garlic, onion (or shallot), basil, oregano, salt, pepper, a roux made with heavy cream, and anything else you want
I love curries. Here is one of my favourite recipes (adapted from a recipe book, incorporating information from my former Sri Lankan and Malaysian flatmates):
Red Lentil Curry
250 g red lentils, rinsed and drained
500 ml vegetable stock
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
50 g ghee(or mix butter with vegetable oil)
1 cinnamon stick
4 whole cloves
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2-1 teaspoon chili powder
4 teaspoons ground cumin
4 teaspoons ground coriander
2 tomatoes, chopped
salt, pepper
125 ml coconut milk
Place lentils, stock and turmeric in a large pan. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered for about 10 minutes, until lentils are tender. Stir occasionally. In a small bowl, mix chili powder, ground cumin and coriander with a little bit of water to make a paste. In a second pan, heat the ghee and add onion, cinnamon stick and cloves. Cook, stirring, until onioin is browned lightly. Add garlic and spice paste. cook stirring, for 2-3 minutes until fragrant. Add onion and spice mixture to the lentils. Add tomatoes. Simmer over very low heat for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in coconut milkuntil heated through. Serve with Basmati rice or Roti bread.