TIME FOR COMFORT FOOD
Chef recalls watching her mother making a favourite Hungarian recipe
Chef recalls watching her mother making a favourite Hungarian recipe
Daylight hours, a rare commodity. Extra layers of clothing become the set to do. Cravings for comfort and warmth mingle with the renewed desire to be nestled indoors, seeking solace and fortifying nourishment. It’s incredible how drastically our lives can change when the mercury begins to make its dramatic dip.
This year I feel the yearning for comfort more strongly than I ever have before. As I approach the one-year anniversary of my mother’s passing, I find myself striving to keep my connection to her and to nurture the warmth of her presence in my life.
For me, food is the easy way to approach this experience of longing, grief and love. I grew up sitting on the kitchen counter, happily perched by the stove, watching my mother prepare supper for our family. The connection to good food coming from a place of love is a concept I must have picked up through osmosis as a toddler. It’s something, which I have always carried with me.
The recipe I am sharing with you is one of my favourite dishes from childhood and is classic Hungarian comfort food. My mom was born in Hungary, and cooked many traditional dishes of her homeland for our family. I am so thankful for that, as it serves now as a thread that tethers me to my mother and to her essence. Chicken Paprikash is a braised dish that is cooked
on the stove and served with dense, toothsome dumplings known as Galuska. My favourite part of eating this dish is the sour cream garnish. It’s essential, and when I was a kid, my mom would always let me scoop a little extra onto my chicken stew because it was the “good Hungarian thing to do”.
Don’t freeze this dish as it doesn’t hold up well. It is, however, one of those braises which improves in flavour over the following three days. If you don’t want to make the Galuska, simply serve the Paprikash with some buttered egg noodles or some rice.
Food is a part of our story and conveys experience, love and moments in time quite often in more meaningful ways than words ever could. An aroma has the power to conjure an entire piece of your past. As we approach these darkest days of the season, let the light of comfort and connection shine through by taking the time to celebrate the meals that tell the story of your kin. The warmth of these moments will nourish you whenever you come back to them.