Happy as a clam

Let’s talk comfort food.

You know, food that reminds you of home. Food that you eat in your jammies and fuzzy slippers. Food that nurses you through a broken heart and food that you grew up on.

It might be something so simple as a slice of extra cheese pizza, or it might be your great-grandma’s handed down recipe for milk chocolate mousse. Just feeling it melt on your tongue brings you right back…every time.

My favorite comfort food is linguine and clams. Maybe that’s not so typical…I’m not sure. But it’s my absolute favorite meal on earth and the one my mom always made me growing up. I always asked for extra clams and loved the way they squeaked between my teeth. You could get all fancy with live clams but I always preferred canned.

Gosh, I can’t even tell you how many times linguine and clams has aided in my survival. Like the time my first ever boyfriend broke up with me when I was fifteen (he’s actually a blog reader and we are actually friends now….awkward) or the first time I moved out on my own and nothing tasted right. There’s just something about this dish that will always taste like home to me, no matter how far away I am or how old I get.

There’s no recipe, really; it’s just a little of this and a little of that. Even though the name is “linguine” and clams, I usually use angel hair because it’s my favorite.

Oh! another amazing thing about your favorite comfort food is that you get to make the rules!

I usually just saute up some garlic and shallot in a little olive oil and butter and then add the clams, a pinch of red pepper flakes, a little lemon juice and a quarter cup of clam juice. When the pasta’s done, I toss it all together and grate a nice blanket of Parmesan cheese on top.

Of course it’s nothing like mom’s….but what comfort food is?

It still does the trick though, every time, and after I eat it I’ll waddle away in my fuzzy leopard print slippers and over-sized sweatshirt and draw a hot bubble bath. I’ll read the latest issue of Food & Wine while I soak and the next morning the world is right again.

It always works!

What’s your favorite comfort food?