Food And Fellowship

We all know that food makes friends. Sit a group of people who barely know each other down with a good, satisfying meal and odds are that by dessert they'll be swapping stories and comparing pictures of kids.

Recently, however, I've found that the mere notion of food, the mere discussion of cooking and consumption of tempting edibles, even in a completely foodless environment, can bond disparate groups of people together.

A few weeks ago, my wife went in for lithotripsy, which is a kidney stone treatment that apparently involves the patient sitting in a tub of water while the kidney area is blasted with high-powered sound waves. I think they use Van Halen (pre-Hagar) or Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Of course a large part of any medical procedure is waiting ... waiting to get the appointment, waiting to be called, waiting in the pre-op room, etc. It was during this last period of delay that I made my discovery.

Trying to distract my wife from her anxieties over the impending procedure, I was describing all the various comfort food dishes I planned to cook over the weekend to help alleviate her post-surgical aches and pains. I happened to mention making baked macaroni and cheese with Alton Brown's recipe. For those of you who haven't tried it, it's quite simply the ultimate evolution of mac and cheese. Try the "next day fried mac and cheese" recipe, too.

One of the pre-op nurses, hanging an IV antibiotic on my wife's IV rack, heard me mention Alton and confessed to being fan of his FoodTV show, "Good Eats." We struck up a conversation, and within a few minutes, the nursing supervisor, two roving doctors and patients and friends from all the surrounding curtain areas were talking back and forth.

The topics ranged from favorite recipes to kitchen appliances to grocery stores and everything in between. Folks I'd never seen before, and who I'm fairly sure had never met one another, became like family for a short time as we all put aside for a bit the antiseptic environment in which we were sealed in favor of garlic- or chocolate-laden fantasy.

This is far from the first time this spontaneous bonding has happened, but certainly the first time I've witnessed it in such a foodless environment. Other than the guy griping about not having had a cigarette for two hours, we could have been sitting around a kitchen table or at a lunch counter somewhere.

Good food makes good friends, whether the food is actually present or not!

Another good example would be my ever-to-be esteemed boss, Lori. We've never met face-to-face, a fact for which I'm sure she's eternally grateful, but we work together all day in our little electronic world. Now she's the shy, quiet type, but over the months I've managed to dig out that she's quite a cook in her own right.

As befits her Iowa heritage, she does some of her best work with with beef, which is raised in Iowa to a quality level exceeded only by my own native Texas steaks. This, of course, has been a topic of some small debate, and sometimes I even let her think she's won a round.

I asked her for a few easy recipes, and being the generous soul she is, she came across with some quick-cooking dishes that will leave you fighting over the leftovers:

Texas Hash

1 big onion, chopped
½ green pepper, chopped
1 pound ground beef
1 4 oz. can mushrooms, drained
2 c canned tomatoes (16 oz.)
1 can green beans
2 c cooked noodles
1 tsp. chili powder
2 tsp. salt
½ t pepper

Sauté onion and green pepper in butter. Add ground beef and brown. Drain fat. Mix all ingredients and bake 45-60 minutes at 350° F.

Salisbury Steak

NOTE: You gain presentation points if you serve this while doing your best impression of Chef from "South Park."

1 can golden mushroom soup
1 pound ground beef
1/3-½ c dried bread crumbs
1 egg
¼ c chopped onion
Dash pepper--no salt

Mix all ingredients using ¼ c soup. Shape into patties and put in shallow baking dish. Bake at 350° F 30-45 minutes. Drain fat. Mix remaining soup with 1/3-½ can water. Pour over meat and bake 10 minutes longer.

Porcupine Meatballs

1 pound ground beef
¼-1/3 c rice
½ onion (small) chopped
1-2 tbsp. tomato soup
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce Mix all together and form meatballs. Place in casserole. Mix remainder of soup with ½-¾ can water and Worcestershire sauce. Pour over meatballs. Bake at 350° F. for one hour. Great with mashed potatoes.

Oh, and for those of you wondering, Linda, my wife, is making progress. She may need another treatment. I assume they'll step it up to a Gwar or Marilyn Manson CD. If you'd like to send her a get-well wish (BOY, am I gonna get in trouble for this) just click here.

What's YOUR favorite "homestyle" recipe? What do you make when it's been one of "those" days and you want to dive into some comfort food? Send it in, if you'd be so kind, and over the next few months I'll share them with the world.