Beyond Selidor

There is a particular dish which is, to me, the very definition of comfort food. Growing up, I think we probably ate it once a week (both my parents cooked it, but their versions differed subtly). I think it was one of the first things I learnt how to cook, and after I moved out of home it was one of a set of several meals that I cycled through every couple of weeks. I've moved house (and country) lots of times in my adult life, and, almost without realising it, I fell into the habit of cooking this dish on the first night in a new house. It became something of a ritual to mark the fact that I'd become secure in a new suburb, city, or country: locate the ingredients for comfort food, make a new kitchen my own.

It's an incredibly simple dish, and requires only five ingredients and about twenty minutes of your time. It's based on a recipe by Marcella Hazan because my mother learnt to cook from my father in New York in the '80s, and Marcella Hazan was A Thing then.

( Recipe behind the cut )

Do any of you have particular dishes that define comfort food for you?