Greens & Grains

Grilling on my friend Toni’s deck in the Catskills is fast becoming a July 4th tradition. We gather vegetables from her garden and local farm stands, meet in her kitchen and begin prepping everything for the grill: Root vegetables go in foil packages with herbs and garlic; corn sometimes stay in their husks; favas always remain in their pods; and the other veggies go directly on the grill. Toni makes her famous chimichurri sauce, and we drizzle it over everything at the table.

The vigorous sound of a whisk beating against the antique porcelain bread bowl my mother used when she made milk pudding will always remind me of her. When I awoke to this clatter from the kitchen downstairs – which was most winter mornings – I always knew what we were having for breakfast.

Since cheese is not part of my daily or even weekly diet, the first variety that comes to mind is goat cheese, as it’s the only cheese I would eat regularly — goat’s milk is far easier to digest than cow’s milk, and I enjoy its fresher, cleaner taste. My all-time favorite cheese is a marinated goat-and-sheep-milk feta made by Meredith Dairy, a sustainable family-run dairy in Victoria, Australia. Their feta is luxuriously creamy and soft. It’s marinated in extra-virgin olive oil, garlic and herbs, and it melts in your mouth.

For many people comfort food encompasses a range of less than healthy, heavy and health hazardous dishes, think macaroni and cheese, bangers and mash, pizza… all of which can ultimately leave one “uncomfortable.”

When it’s a comforting meal that I’m craving, I find myself almost always thinking of soup, like thick bean soups that have been simmered for hours and become creamy, hearty mushroom barley rich with herbs, and velvety root vegetable soups.