Chefs Share Their Favorite Comfort Foods
Saying goodbye to the heirloom tomato salads, grilled corn on the cob, and ice-box pies of summer wasn’t easy, but the good news is we’ve got a whole fall and winter of comfort food on the horizon. You’re probably already dusting off the Crock-Pot, pulling out your mom’s beef stew recipe, or dreaming up ways to work some new ingredients (habanero and Brie?) into your mac and cheese. And you’re not alone. When professional chefs actually find time to whip up a meal in their own kitchens, they too turn to saucy and satiating comfort food on chilly nights. Here’s what great chefs around the nation are making for themselves this season.
More Comfort Food Ideas From Yahoo Food:
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Curtis Stone, Chef/Owner, Maude, Los Angeles
“We eat so much lamb in Australia, so it reminds me of my childhood. The meat just falls off the bone the way short ribs do. As soon as I think about braised lamb shanks, I think of an open fire and red wine – a perfect moment of comfort. It’s cooked a lot in Australia, so I have a variety of recipes and I also choose to cook it in different ways. I might serve it with some pureed squash with nutmeg and mace on the side, or I might take it off the bone and toss it with some fresh pasta. I also have a 1-year-old, so it’s the perfect baby food. I make it any time from the fall through cooler months. Spring is really more about the young lamb, which is tender and beautiful, but in the fall and winter, the lamb and the fats are a bit more developed and so the heartier flavor makes it a great cold-weather comfort food." Want to try it? Here’s Food and Wine’s recipe.
Photo: Darren Muir/Stocksy
Stephanie Izard, Chef/Owner, Girl & the Goat and Little Goat, Chicago
“My favorite winter comfort food is Sugo. We have it on the menu year-round at Girl & the Goat, but I make it at home much more often as it starts to get cold. Sugo is inspired by old Italian cooking and is especially great when you have leftovers from grilling or barbecuing. You can take the meat and add some canned tomatoes, apples, onions, and make a very hearty stew. It’s the perfect thing to warm you up on a cold day.” Try the New York Times’ Sugo di Carne recipe.
Photo: © StockFood / Zabert Sandmann Verlag / Westermann, Jan-Peter
Philippe Bertineau, Executive Chef, Benoit, New York City
“A humble French dish like cassoulet speaks to the season. It is a classic meal of dried beans cooked with various sausages and preserved meats that I grew up on in Southwest France. I love that the recipe varies widely by region, village, and family from generation to generation. It is the kind of fare that demands making an event out of it – good wine and all. Try Martha Stewart’s Cassoulet recipe.
Photo: Ryman/photocuisine/Corbis Rights Managed
Sara Moulton, Chef, Cookbook Author, Television Personality
“My favorite comfort food to make in the winter – besides anything involving melted cheese – is chicken posole that I developed for my last cookbook. It is a cheating form of pork posole, a long-simmering Mexican stew. This is a relatively quick dish to make, involving shredded rotisserie chicken, a homemade tomatillo salsa (sometimes if I am in a rush I use a good store-bought green or red salsa), hominy, and chicken broth. It is restorative like Jewish chicken soup, only its Mexican and spicy and involves all my favorite garnishes – shredded sharp cheese, tortilla chips (if I have time, I make my own oven baked version), chopped cilantro, and lime wedges.” Try Sara Moulton’s Chicken Posole recipe.
Photo: © StockFood / Campbell, Teri
Michael Lomonaco, Executive Chef/Partner, Porter House New York, New York City
“For my deep winter cooking at home, the braising pan comes out. For me, winter – that period after the holiday rush at the restaurant – means there is some time to kick back on a Sunday evening, invite friends over, open some long-held wine from the cellar and braise short ribs with Chianti. Add to that roast winter squash and creamy polenta to round it out. The short ribs are now a favored cut of beef, but my mom braised beef shoulder – think chuck steaks – in wine with canned tomatoes from our summer garden’s bounty for hours at a time, with plenty of carrots and onions, all over a rigatoni pasta.” Try Yahoo Food’s beer-braised short rib recipe.
Slow-Cooked Chicken Thighs
Lee Wolen, Chef/Partner, Boka, Chicago
“One of my favorite comfort foods to eat when it starts getting cold out are slow-cooked chicken thighs. I put about eight thighs in our slow cooker at home, with dates, olives, tomatoes, thyme, and a chili pepper and then pour chicken stock over everything. Then I turn it on low and let it cook for six hours and it comes out tender and juicy. My wife is a teacher and our schedules don’t always match up, so it’s nice to be able to make dinner for her that is ready when she gets home from work and smells delicious when she walks in the door.” Try Cooking Light’s Sweet Glazed Chicken Thighs recipe.
Photo: © J.Hall/photocuisine/Corbis
Niki Nakayama, Chef/Owner, n/naka, Los Angeles
“My favorite comfort food for when the weather gets colder is a dish called nabeyaki udon. It’s a hot pot-style udon with tons of vegetables, soft-poached egg, and shrimp tempura. It’s decadent and delicious. Nabeyaki udon is a traditional dish that everyone likes to reinterpret their own way. For me, covering it before it boils with a Japanese drop lid made with cedar wood adds an incredible depth and earthy flavor that just reminds me winter is around the corner. It’s so satisfying and comforting on a cold day.” Try Food Network’s Nabeyaki Udon recipe.
Photo: © StockFood / Minowa Studio
Tyler Kinnett, Executive Chef, Harvest, Cambridge, Massachusetts
The comfort food I make when the weather gets cold is my dad’s chili. It takes me back to winters when we would be watching TV, eating way too much chili and having really great conversations together. The recipe is a simple one-pot meal that requires almost no work but is really, really good. Beef, tomato juice, onion, garlic, cumin, paprika, and a few kinds of beans with shredded yellow Wisconsin cheddar and crackers on top. It’s relaxing for me to eat and takes me back to being a kid.” Try Jimmy Fallon’s Crock Pot chili recipe on Martha Stewart.
Photo: © Phoebe_Lapine/RooM the Agency/Corbis
Michael Ferraro, Executive Chef/Partner, Delicatessen, New York City
“Growing up in a restaurant family with Italian immigrant parents, my dad’s meatballs were always one of our favorite comfort food dishes he’d make us at home. Giorgio is my father – when I took over Delicatessen seven years ago, his meatballs were one of the first things I put on the menu. He even came in to teach the staff how to make them along with his red sauce.” Try Chef Michael Ferraro’s recipe for Giorgio’s Meatballs.
Photo: Davide Illini/Stocksy
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