The ultimate comfort food combines pasta with America’s favorite vegetable in two formats
Column and photos by Dana Rady, Wisconsin Potato & Vegetable Growers Association
What does the word “comfort” mean to you? A glass of spirits with friends, perhaps? A hot bath after a long day? Curling up in a blanket while watching a movie and eating popcorn?
Chances are you have multiple scenarios that come to mind when you think of being comfortable.
Now, let’s change the question. What comes to mind when you think of “comfort food?”
Not long ago, Eric and I took the kids on a trip to California to visit my Uncle Dan, the same one who introduced me to the classic Vodka Gimlet.
While there, my cousin invited us to her house for dinner and made hamburgers along with homemade macaroni and cheese. But this wasn’t just any mac and cheese recipe. It was that of her mother, Marie Stefferud, my dad’s sister and my Uncle Dan’s wife, who passed away in 2023.
Just a few bites of her dish brought me back to years past when the “California crew,” my Aunt Marie, Uncle Dan, and cousins, Lisa and Christian, would visit Wisconsin each summer. Indulging in my aunt’s macaroni and cheese in California where she resided for decades brought me comfort, in traditions, family, values, and cooking.
