THINGS I LOVE: Comfort Food

Oh, the joy of lifting a fork to one's mouth and having a multitude of flavours dance on the tongue before exiting the stage through a satisfied swallow of the throat!  Who has played the game that goes along the lines of "If you had to eat one dish every day for the rest of your life, what would it be?", and has mmm'd and aaah'd over choosing just one answer?  Let me choose three:

1.  Pumpkin Soup with Bacon Bones.  Thick and chunky with beautiful flavours, this wins hands down.

2.  Magherita Pizza.  The infatuation with this pizza came while reading Eat Pray Love, where the protagonist ravishes two entire ones in Naples.  I wondered how a pizza with only cheese, basil and tomato could be so tasty as to induce tears?  Well my friends, it's because the cheese is no ordinary cheese but a mixture of buffalo and fresh mozzarella, the basil is picked fresh and the tomatoes crushed with salt and pepper to create a rich sauce.  The base must also be thin yet chewy, sweet yet salty, crisp yet soft.  Presley and I enjoyed our first taste at Osteria Del Toro in Wellington and with the addition of prosciutto ham I was sold unequivocally to this most simple of dishes.  Since then we have tried another one in Rotorua that had fresh tomatoes on top (not as good) and the worst version from Piccola Italia in Hamilton - no buffalo or even bocconcini cheese, mixed herbs straight from the packet, and a floury base.  So if you're going to try a Margherita pizza then make sure it's authentic Italian, otherwise you'll be disappointed.

3.  Bouillabaisse.  This is a classic French seafood stew that is usually served with chunky bread to mop the sauce up with.  It originated in Marseilles and now has many variations, but as long as it contains a good mixture of the main ingredients of fish, mussels, prawns, calamari, crayfish, and crab, then I'm happy!