Soft food recipes

Mince and dumplings - brown ground beef or turkey with half a chopped onion and a finely chopped carrot if there's one around. Drain off the fat (or not, sometimes I don't bother if there's not too much of it) and add two cups of water and one beef stock cube (not essential, if you just use water it will still be good. I use low sodium cubes), a few shakes of Worcestershire, and a bay leaf. Shake up a tablespoon of flour with some water in a little jar or whisk the flour and water together in a bowl until there are no lumps, stir that into the mince to thicken the sauce cover, and leave it to simmer over low heat for 20 minutes or so. In the meantime, roughly mix together a cup of self-rising flour, half a cup of super-cold butter or other shortening chopped into little pieces, salt and pepper and add a little water at a time JUST until it makes a sticky dough you can roll into a rough log shape. Cut into 8-10 pieces, use floured hands to gently make balls, and lay them on top of the mince and gravy (don't push them under). Cover and let them simmer for another 20 minutes or so until they are soft and puffy. Serve with overcooked broccoli on the side (I love soft broccoli, don't tell anyone!) This is probably the best comfort food recipe I discovered when I moved to England. Highly recommended.

I forgot to add-I gave this recipe to a pastry-phobic (phobic of the making of, not the eating of) friend back in the states, and she used Bisquick instead of making her own dumplings. Just mixed it up according to the drop-biscuit recipe and plopped spoonfuls on top of the mince and gravy. Otherwise she followed the recipe exactly. She said it was delicious, and I can't see why it wouldn't be. Making the dumplings from scratch is really easy, though.

Ratatouille with Corn and Summer Squash 3 summer squash, halved lengthwise and sliced thinly 1 large onion, roughly chopped 1 clove garlic, minced 2 tomaotes, chopped 2 cups fresh or frozen corn 1/4 cup chopped basil pinch of allspice salt and pepper olive oil Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium and add the onion. Cook until the onion softens completely but does not brown, 7-10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minutes until the garlic is aromatic. Add the tomatoes and the summer squash and cook until the summer squash is tender, about 10 minutes. Add the corn and the basil and cook until the squash is falling apart, about another 10-12 minutes. Add a pinch of allspice and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper. Serve immediately. Yuuuuum.

Quiche! Infinitely variable... fine tune it to your Mom's tastes. I frozen pie crust 4 eggs 1/4 cup milk 1 cup shredded cheese (any will do, I prefer something dry, salty and sharp, like a hard Parmesan, to balance out the moistness and sweetness of the eggs) Chopped fresh basil (dried will do) Chopped fresh parsley (dried will do) A dash of powdered garlic Black pepper to taste Whatever else you feel like throwing in there Mix all ingredients thoroughly, pour into pie crust, bake at 350 degrees for around 45 minutes, or until the center of the quiche is firm. Couldn't be easier. And you can fill it with whatever your heart desires; my mom loves fresh spinach and diced ham, I'm a fan of frozen broccoli and cauliflower, and I recently used fresh green beans, sauteed shallots and pancetta. Hard to go wrong. Even the above-mentioned seasonings are variable. Go nuts.

Of course, "I frozen pie crust" should be "1 frozen pie crust." I am not, in fact, a frozen pie crust.

Lasagne, canneloni... there's loads of Italian stuff you could do. Have you ever tried making your own http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/moussaka_6812.shtml? This would fit the bill quite nicely, I'd imagine. It's yum.

Frikadeller (Danish meatballs) 400 grams lean minced pork or a combination of pork and veal. (My girlfriend uses minced beef instead which is also nice but then I would omit the curry powder.) ½ teaspoon salt 1 medium sized onion, grated 1 egg 1 deciliter low fat milk 4 tablespoons wheat flour a pinch of curry powder salt and pepper 25 grams butter for frying Stir the meat with the salt, pepper, curry powder, onion, egg, milk and flour. Let the mixture rest for about ten minutes. Heat the butter in a frying pan until it is golden. Use a tablespoon and your hand to shape meatballs the size and shape of small eggs and fry them in the butter for about 15 minutes on low to medium heat. http://images.google.dk/images?q=frikadeller. Serve with boiled or mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli, spinach, cauliflower or any other veg you can think of.

In the same vein as cilantro's idea... Mince and Tatties. There are lots of versions of this dish and not really one "right" way, but this is my method... Brown some ground beef, ground pork, minced beef or anything really. Set it aside and drain the fat but leave the pan greasy. Chop a whole onion(or two) and start frying it, the idea being to get a bit of browning happening, it does not need to be fully cooked in this stage but it's fine if it is. Now add back the meat, some stock (beef, veggie, chicken, whatever you want really, also you could just use water and oxo), grated carrot and sometimes I also add a grated sweet potato. Slow cook this with plenty of salt and pepper and herbs to taste. I like a bit of oregano and a good amount of sage, but do this however you like. If herbs are fresh, add them near the end. The dish is now in a holding pattern and could be ready in 20-30 minutes, or you could slow cook it for hours. I usually add something to thicken it right near the end. If you use flour, make sure it has time to cook the raw flour taste out, or you could just not thicken it at all. Now for the tatties... just make mashed potatoes however you like them! Serve with a generous scopping of the mince directly on the tatties and go to town. Feel free to add a side veggie or maybe some bread. I'm sure some scottish person will comment that my mince and tatties is offensive and not authentic, but it is sooo good. This is based on my mother's and grandmother's recipe with some of my own modifications.

http://homeparents.about.com/od/quickdinnerrecipes/r/tator.htm. I put a layer of shredded yellow cheese between the meat and tater tots for that extra je ne sais quoi.