Comfort Food

It's snoooo-wiiiing! And so the yearly battle against cold, wet and miserable begins... My first warning shot over the bows of Old Man Winter came from Susi-- a Curried Broccoli Soup with my own Herbed Batter Rolls on the side and Spiced Apple Cider and a nice Merlot to drink. Here's some photos and the recipes.



Curried Broccoli Soup

2 lbs Broccoli
1/2 stick Butter
1 onion, chopped
1 lg potato
2tbsp Curry
1 1/2 qt Chicken stock
3/4 c light Cream


Melt butter in soup pot. Saute onion and butter. Add all other ingredients except cream. Bring to boil, cook till tender. Turn burner off. Add cream. Remove 1 to 2 cups to blender and process till smooth. Return to soup pot. Serve.

Herbed Batter Rolls

1 tbsp active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
assorted herbs
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 egg
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cup white flour

preheat oven to 400 degrees

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add assorted herbs (I try to match the type of herbs I use to the flavors of the main dish) to taste, sugar, salt, egg, olive oil and whole wheat flour. Beat with a wire whisk till smooth. Stir in white flour with a wooden spoon. Cover with a damp cloth and rise till doubled (when I'm in a hurry, I tend to skimp a bit on this step...), about thirty minutes.

Deflate batter by stirring. Scoop batter into lightly greased muffin tins-- 3/4 full. Set aside to rise in warm place for about 15 minutes. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown. Serve warm (with butter!).

Y'all have any favorite cold weather comfort foods? If you want to share, let me know in the comments, leave a link to your blog post with your recipe in it and I'll add your link to this post here on my blog. I'm particularly interested in a spiced wine recipe for our up-coming Christmas party... any suggestions? How about some cozy desserts?