Comfort food is practically health food

I don't know whether I'm turning to comfort food because of these cold days, or this relentless year where virtually everything we usually look forward - holidays, local fairs, interstate visitors -have been scratched from the calendar. Maybe it's a combination of both, but whatever it is, simple recipes like stuffed crispy jacket potato with creamy spinach and fetta, cauliflower cheese, whole roasted celeriac and roasted Brussels sprouts with burnt butter and garlic, served as a side to roast chicken or mopped up with crunchy whole grain sourdough, makes the prospect of staying home in front of the fire with a good book, very appealing.

Comfort food is defined as food that provides a nostalgic or sentimental value to someone, and may be characterised by its high caloric nature, high carbohydrate level, or simple preparation.

The definition, other than the sentimental nostalgic part, suggests that comfort food is bad for you and certainly, if you are of the Paleo tribe where all carbs are off the menu, you might agree, but I don't.

Provided you select quality carbs, like potatoes, wholegrain sourdough, bulgur, buckwheat, wholemeal or bean pasta, barley, beans and pulses with a low GI and combine them with a wide range of vegetables, find great flavour from a range of herbs and spices and use cooking techniques like roasting and toasting for flavour and crunch, comfort food is good for you in every respect . It comforts our soul, which is what we crave and nourishes the body, which is what we need.

I for example often serve chilli prawn pizza on a Friday night and serve it with a beautiful fresh salad full of green leaves, avocado, fennel, tomatoes and olives. Without the salad the pizza is incomplete and in terms of comfort and nutrition it ticks both boxes.

An apple pie may soothe the soul for many and why is that a problem? Cut the sugar content down and sweeten the apple with a combination of sweeter apple varieties and boost the fibre with some wholemeal flour in the pastry, maybe even making a lattice top to reduce the amount of pastry in a serve and it's practically health food.

Just say the word cheese and I'm thrown into a meditative trance at the thought of diving into warm melted creamy cheese: Baked with cauliflower it's a dream come true. Use a mature cheese with a strong flavour and you will reduce the calorific intake from using too much cheese. It is minimum compromise for maximum comfort.

Remember the days when people bought baked potato businesses and parked their wagons in busy centres and served potatoes with all sorts of toppings? What happened to those businesses?
Maybe it was something to do with the discovery that baked potatoes had a high GI and raised blood sugar levels quickly that led to their demise, but baked potatoes themselves are not bad. Eating a medium-size baked potato doesn't increase the risk of diabetes, heart disease or stroke, in fact, they increase the intake potassium and fibre and are much better for you, according to a new study, than a similar weight of white rice, white bread or pasta. A medium sized baked potato with the skin on provides 20 percent the recommended daily intake of fibre, 50 percent the recommended intake of vitamin C, 4 grams of protein, 25 percent potassium, 30 percent vitamin B6, and nearly 10 percent iron.

So there you have it. Provided you don't load the baked potato with lashings of sour cream, salt, cheese and bacon, comfort food can also be health food.

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