Elegant Comfort

K

kyheirloomer

Well-known member
Been experimenting, lately, with making comfort food a little more elegant.

Latest success: I adapted my favorite bread pudding recipe so it can be formed in individual 2-piece tart pans. These get unmolded onto serving plates, topped with the sauce and a squirt of raspberry syrup, and voila!

So, who else has been turning their comfort food into something elegant enough for a dinner party?

 
REC: Southern Comfort Fried Chicken

Southern Comfort Fried Chicken

Fry chicken (however you like to).
Drain on paper towels.
Return to skillet or dutch oven.
Pour on some Southern Comfort (amount is up
to you).
Flame.
Add heavy cream (about 1 cup per chicken).
Heat.
Eat.

You could use bourbon instead of Southern Comfort (but then it wouldn't be a Southern Comfort recipe, would it?).

 
I just saw a crostada in individual servings...

For some reason I never thought of that, but it solves a problem I've had with full serving crostadas. I always hated the way they are sliced for serving. Individually they look so much more...rusticly elegant.

Do you ever see the Donna Hay magazine (or books) out of Australia? She's great at taking classic comfort food and doing stylized presentations. I'm totally inspired by her.

 
Joe & Traca

You've both hit the nail on the head, in that presentation can be the key to elegance.

Anything made in individual servings is more elegant than the same dish made larger. Then you plate it a little fancy, and there you go.

Maybe that's why I'm so obsessed with the small bites thing. You can make so many things look more sophisticated than they really are by sizing them down and dressing them up.

 
BTW, I watched Alton Brown slice up cold Mac 'N Cheese, bread it, and deep-fry it

Probably not the elegance you're looking for, but it sure was tempting comfort food.

 
I reckon so.

I have a set of mini spring-forms and use them a lot for baby cheesecakes. Talk about decadent: a "whole" cheesecake for one person. Well, cheesecake for two, at any rate.

I've also got a half dozen of those old-fashioned free-standing cupcake tins. They make great molds, too, for individual servings

 
Rule #1: Everything can be sliced up, breaded, and deep fried!

Been doing the mac and cheese at our house for decades, however, I do a nice breading like you would do for a Wienerschnitzel and then pan-fry, preferably in goose fat. Talk about gilding the lilies... ; )

This works very well for leftover Thanksgiving dressing and corn pudding and sweet potato casserole and...

Did I mention mashed potatoes or potato salad? German or American style. Makes nice little croquettes.

Cold rice pudding and cold baked custards? Fry it up (optionally toss with sugar and cinnamon), sauce it with a fruit coulis, and tell your guests it's nouveau.

 
OMG...friends just had a party they called, "Yes, we're trying to kill you" and they served

BACON-WRAPPED PORK BELLY! Does it get any better???

 
speaking of which

what's your opinion of silicon bakeware?

I was going to get some, but a straw poll on several cooking sites indicated that, overall, it wasn't worthwhile.

Anybody happy with it?

 
I haven't been happy with the small quick breads I've made in it.

They seem...I don't know... rubbery. I've tried banana and carrot and neither developed the crunchy edges I love so much. They look fine (other than not having the golden sheen from crisping) and they certainly pop out easy....but I do love my banana crust.

I'll probably save it for the meatloaf idea.

 
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