This week's "Staff Picks" are centered around comforting food that keeps us from feeling wonky.
Alison Roman's Creamy Farro with Crispy Mushrooms and Leeks
My favorite dish right now is Alison Roman's Creamy Farro with Crispy Mushrooms. Admittedly, I came across this video after catching up on the latest YouTube episodes from Bon Appetit (shout out to Brad, Claire, and Andy!). This video was my first introduction to Alison Roman and she didn't disappoint. I'm not a big soup guy so this helps me cross that bridge. It's brothy, herbaceous and creamy. I currently don't eat sour cream so I replaced it with hummus and it still worked! The recipe is super simple and takes less than an hour to prepare and serve, which is perfect for a weeknight meal or if you're just feeling lazy. - Yared Gebru
Mark Bittman's Pasta Puttanesca
Pasta Puttanesca is my all-time favorite food. It comes together so quickly and smells amazing, it's perfect anytime of the year and in any weather. As an added bonus for those collecting Apocalypse-compatible recipes — none of the ingredients require refrigeration and you could most definitely make it in one pan over a fire if necessary. There are a bazillion recipes out there, I do a modified version of this one from Mark Bittman at the NY Times. Some people add cooked chicken or swordfish. You can sprinkle on fresh herbs if that's your thing, and I like both parmesan and feta cheese too. You can serve with simple green vegetables like broccoli or asparagus, or just have it in a bowl. - Maeven McGovern
Half Baked Harvest's Kimchi Grilled Cheese
Ok, so I have been making an honest attempt at being healthy while quarantining by trying some new and nutritious recipes...but I always wind up craving my go-to comfort food favorites in the end. And my number one go-to comfort food favorite is a classic grilled cheese sandwich. There is something so addicting and satisfying about biting into the salty, buttery, crunchy, stringy goodness that is a slice of grilled cheese. Think of all the endless combo possibilities! You can put some tomato and basil in there, maybe a little fruity jam if you're feeling fancy or if you're adventurous try one of my personal favorites — the kimchi grilled cheese sandwich. Basically, you can't mess this dish up. Just make sure you don't skimp out on the butter. I always butter both sides of the bread and then also butter the pan I'm cooking it in. Because everything is better with butter, but especially a grilled cheese sandwich. - Maya Drexler
Tito Brigs' DIY Ramen
Shin Ramyun by Nong Shim is a Korean instant noodle that comes in cups, bowls or bagged noodle packs. In its simplest form, you can pour all the contents into a bowl (or the container it came in), add hot water and be done, son. But for extra levels of completeness, you can add pretty much anything. Any protein, any vegetable, in any way. This also applies to leftovers. Maybe you baked salmon the day before, or have 85 Chicken McNuggets leftover from your attempted 100 chicken nugget mukbang. Put it all in the bowl, add hot water, wait until your preferred level of noodle cookedness and bing-bang-boom, a real meal. My usual rotation of additions is baby spinach, ground turkey, chopped green onions, cucumber, tomato, bell pepper, steak or an egg over easy. The soup base is kinda spicy, though my tolerance for heat is a bit soft, so I usually use less than half the broth pack. The noodles, I think, are a half step above other instant noodle offerings from companies like Maruchan, Nissin or Indomie. I like their texture, and they don’t seem to get super waterlogged if you eat slowly. Also, Kali Muscle is about instant noodles, so you should be too! You can order a case of 20 on Amazon for like 18 bucks. Not bad (but some COVID-19 price inflations are happening so order a gang of em, if it really hits the fan, they’ll trade like Newports in gen pop.) See you from 6 feet away soon! - Brigido Bautista