Momo potatoes = comfort food on a cold night

This fall in DC has been absolutely spectacular. Though we've had some fits and starts to it temperature-wise, cold nights seem to be easing in as the norm. I welcome them. There is nothing like hurriedly putting on flannel pjs -you're hurrying so your buns don't chill, you know?- and diving into bed, pulling the blankets snugly up to your chin and relishing the cold air against which you'll cocoon yourself. Dozing in a nice, low-60s room is the absolute best. And, as I write each year, these lower temps always shift what I want for dinner. Light and summery fare just doesn't cut the butter after the sun sets; hale and hearty is the way to satiety!

Nanny's oval roaster has been sitting on my stove top with the utmost patience. I look at it each day and wonder what ingredients to throw in first. And though tonight I didn't use it for more than boiling my russets for a few minutes, it reminded me of Nanny and of a dish created by the salad chef, MoMo, in her and Papa's restaurant. I never knew MoMo. In fact, the restaurant was long closed by the time I came along, but Momo potatoes have been in my family's culinary repertoire since its invention.

It is the humblest of dishes, nothing fancy in terms of ingredients or looks. But it's delicious and comforting, food for the soul as well as the hungry body really. Potatoes, bacon, onions and cheddar: four rather inconspicuous supporting actors. The sum of those parts, however, is thoroughly sublime, a grand total I've enjoyed countless times in my life.