Does election week have you stressed? Are you biting your nails in anxious anticipation? Have you gorged on leftover Halloween candies, or abstained from eating them for a few days due to an uneasy tummy?
Do not fret — though this is undoubtedly a fraught time, you can always rely on home-y, warming comfort food for a bit of the pleasure found in a familiar bite. Turn on your favorite shows or movies, play your favorite tunes and cook to your heart's content. Hey, if you're really riled up, why not make every recipe on the list?
Have a little dinner party for your family and friends so they can marvel over your skills. No matter how you approach it, keep in mind that comfort food tastes good whether you're celebrating or not.
So, indulge and enjoy.
01 Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
Salon columnist Maggie Hennessy shared this recipe along with the story of how it went viral back in 2013 on her "now-defunct Wordpress account." The recipe, courtesy of her Oma, "never fails to warm me through on those especially dark and bitter winter nights. And I always marvel when I retrieve each perfect little packet at the end of cooking, which forgives every lazy wrap job and torn cabbage leaf during assembly."
The recipe calls for items you probably already have on hand and comes together in about two hours, at which time it'll perfume your home in the most wonderful way. There's a bit of manual labor with the cabbage folding, but if you like that sort of dexterous, tactical work and find that it might help pass the time, this might be the perfect election week recipe for you.
02 Chicken and Noodle Casserole
Courtesy of Salon's food editor, Ashlie D. Stevens, this classic-yet-revamped casserole is an ideal choice, especially from a seasonal point of view. Stevens omits cream of mushroom soup by making a classic, rich béchamel, along with garlic, mushroom and onion, as well as shredded rotisserie chicken, peas and carrots, cheddar, fried shallots and panko bread crumbs.
Sounds terrific, right? Don't waste any more time — go preheat the oven so you can dig into this gem ASAP.
03 Twice-Baked Potatoes
Another Stevens original, this über-rich, decadent classic is a surefire hit. There's also a simplicity inherent here, with only five ingredients (plus salt and butter), and the taters all come together in under an hour. "The whipped butteriness of the mascarpone cheese gave the potato filling both flavor and volume, while the cheddar cheese was just decadent. It was kept fresh by the bite of the cooked and fresh chives," she wrote.
If curling up with a stuffed potato is your idea of comfort, then this is truly the pick for you.
04 Cozy Totdish
Salon senior writer Mary Elizabeth Williams gives a Molly Yeh dish a "modern twist" here, incorporating the classic tater tot and a slew of other ingredients that might seem disparate — edamame, ground turkey, Swiss, pale ale or broth — into a perfect combination. As Williams writes, "I may not be Midwestern, but somehow, hotdish makes me feel nostalgic and incredibly American."
In that case, there may be no better dish to eat on election day than this.
To sell you even further, here's how Williams sums it up: "Topped with a very vigorous shake of chipotle Tabasco, 'totdish' is like medicine and followed with a chocolate mousse chaser, it's definitely an antidepressant."
05 Chicken Salisbury "Steak"
My recipe for Salisbury "steak" calls instead for ground chicken, or whatever ground protein or plant-based protein you'd like, as well as some of the usual suspects: various seasonings, bread crumbs, eggs and some other odds and ends, like A1 sauce, Dijon and Worcestershire. For the sauce, you'll be cooking shallots, mushrooms, red wine, stock or broth, butter and chives. When this dish all comes together, you'll be amazed.
Back in January, I wrote, "Part-meatloaf, part-meatball, part-burger, this peculiar amalgamation (sometimes called "hamburger steak") is any sort of patty comprised of whatever you'd like — plant-based proteins, pork, lamb, beef, turkey — then browned and enveloped in a lush mushroom gravy."
There's also a fun, retro vibe to this dish, which might be just the thing you're looking for this week.
06 Ricotta Gnudi
Williams is back with another cozy option with this gnudi dish. As she writes, "Gnudi is gnocchi's even simpler cousin. Made with flour and ricotta and little else, these doughy pillows are simultaneously delicate and substantial. They are also beautifully achievable, with no special ingredients or fancy techniques required. The only tricky part is figuring out how to choose your own gnudi adventure."
Williams' version calls for flour, ricotta, egg, Parmesan, butter, salt and pepper. She notes this dish makes "supremely delicious, little ricotta nuggets that I then finished in a simple sauce of brown butter."
07 Chicken Pot Pie
There's a sort of timeless comfort to a pot pie: The buttery, flaky crust; the stew-like filling, packed with large chunks of chicken, carrots, peas and much more. My version calls for a sheet of puff pastry or a pie shell, as well as a rich, decadent filling consisting of chicken, leeks, carrots, celery, peas, white miso, creme fraiche, stock or broth, cream and peas.
This is pretty darn filling and restorative in a truly comforting way. I think you'll love it. As I noted when this recipe was first published, "Do your part this winter to help boost the pot pie into the upper comfort food echelon, which is exactly where it belongs."
