When I was a chubby teenager, mashed potatoes were my comfort food of choice. They had to be homemade by Mom, whipped into a marvelous mushiness with canned evaporated milk and real butter. Oh, yes, lots of butter. As I grew up, I began to appreciate my mother’s more sophisticated offerings such as arroz con pollo and turkey tetrazzini (as well as her hankering for anything on white bread with mayo, alas!). But to be honest, I never really got the concept of comfort food for adults until Paula Butturini taught me how to cook Italian in Rome. Paula is an expert in comfort food; it literally saved her life.
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