Comfort Food: The Critical Mom's Recommendation

Comfort Food

There's always vanilla ice cream, there's always chocolate, but for strength, I prefer a hearty, parmesan-and-garlic-crammed pesto (recipe on this blog, c. 2012). Arugula is available in large quantities here so I usually select that, but I love pesto with basil, too--even though basil only comes in plastic Edeka pots, as if it were masquerading as a house plant. 
For this dinner, I made pesto for the vegetarians and, for the vegan, stir-fried Shiitake mushrooms, snow peas, and tomatoes, in olive oil with a liberal smattering of crushed garlic. Whole wheat pasta and red wine make the whole thing prettier and taste great, too. An economic and soul-soothing meal.