Simple Comforts: A Review
By: Leah Rodrigues
Published: June 10, 2011

Comfort food can be described as our favorite foods.  It could be the winning combination of grilled chesse and tomato soup or the taste of your mother's homemade brownies.  Comfort foods can recall your favorite childhood memories or new ones you are creating with your own family and friends.  Sur La Table's book, Simple Comforts, condenses America's favorite comfort foods into 50 recipes.
This book covers the basics like chicken pot pie, meatloaf, chocolate chip cookies, and macaroni and cheese.  It also throws in modem twists to old stand-by's by adding saffron cream to tomato soup or Zinfandel to beef stew.  I don't know about you but I don't want to be running around looking for saffron and then spend a fortune on it to just add some pizazz to my tomato soup. However, I do find recipes recipes like kabocha squash soup refreshing (this may be because I don't consider squash soup as a comfort food).
There are six sections covered in the book including sweet and savory beads, soup, stews and sandwiches, main dishes, side dishes, and desserts.  These sections are evenly distributed throughout the book, most recipes complete with colored pictures.  I do find that the dessert section is a little heavy on chocolate desserts.  This book would be a great addition to a beginner's culinary library.  If you are already an avid cookbook collector, you probably have versions of these recipes in other books.  Simple Comforts is a good resource and gift for cooks who want to make their favorite foods with a twist.