Editors’ Picks: Comfort Food Favourites

It’s that time of year when we’re reaching for extra helpings of our favourite hearty home-cooked dishes.

Michel Roux’s Chocolate Mousse Recipe

I never really thought much about chocolate mousse. Scarred by too many ones that came from a pouch and always put it in the same category as chocolate pudding (which I also only knew from a packet). But a few years ago I actually was served a proper homemade version and I loved it. It’s so elemental and basic, and rewards a modicum of time and the use of great ingredients. I’ll still probably skip over it in a buffet line, but in the hands of a master—like the legendary Michel Roux, there’s no more comforting dessert. —Neal McLennan, Food and Travel Editor

Anastasia Perogies Recipe

Though I’m not Ukrainian by any stretch of the imagination, my go-to food when I’m feeling like I need a culinary hug is always perogies. Long day at the office? Perogies. Need to carbo-load your way through a deadline? Perogies. Hungover from celebrating the meeting of said deadline? Perogies. In college, I had a roommate who used to make us “perogie surprise” after late production nights at the student paper. (The surprise was that she used two different bags of frozen Cheemo dumplings, so potato or potato-and-cheese varieties were mixed with abandon. We truly lived on the edge.) Now, I order them smothered in onions when I spot them on a pub menu, and stock my freezer with handmade ones, picked up from the Ukrainian Cultural Centre. Perogies don’t claim to be fancy or sophisticated or “foodie,” but they always satisfy. —Stacey McLachlan, Associate Editor

Pasta Carbonara with Bacon and Rapini Recipe

Go-to comfort food come winter time is always pasta, in all its forms. (I have a friend that spent one winter seeking out the perfect macaroni and cheese recipe. I firmly support such endeavours.) I love Julie Van Rosendaal’s recipe for Pasta Carbonara because it includes a little green in there with the rapini—a bit of virtue to balance out the carbo-load. —Anicka Quin, Editor-in-Chief

Risi e Bisi Recipe

This is a dish I’ve been making for years, but badly, with microwaved frozen peas and Uncle Ben’s wild rice (in mushroom flavour, because I’m fancy). I can’t wait to step things up and surprise my common-law spouse with this peppery parm-and-pancetta-rich version from Chef Murray Bancroft, which is so tasty, even frozen peas will do! —Julia Dilworth, Staff Writer