Its getting reet parky out there. Bbbbbrrrrrrrrrr.

So as the nights draw in, the heating is clicked back on, I’ve got my seasonal man-flu, and the slow cooker has been dusted off again, theres a lot to be said for hearty stews, soups, pies and such like.

I think I’m going to bang this one in the slow cooker to start

So oh culinary masters of STW, whats your favourite warming, comfort food recipes

It’s a bit of a whiny middle class cockbag choice (but then again that’s me through and through) but my favourite cold day tea is this on big thick slabs of toast.

I like this thread already. This is one of my favourites, it isn’t a hearty stew or anything but it warms me up and tastes amazing: Thai red curry

Quicky lunch:

Spud in microwave
Fry onions and bacon
Whisk a couple of eggs
Warm a plate and make a brew
Chop the spud up and throw in the pan w/ onions and bacon
Throw the egg in and stir up
Chuck it on a plate, season (Worcester/Hendersons or brown is good)
Tuck in

The Ransos minestrone:

1. Buy a ham hock from your butcher and strip off all the fat and meat (keep the meat). Boil it up for a couple of hours with celery, onion, peppercorns, carrots and bay leaves. You want about 1.5 litres.
2. Make a soffritto: finely chop onion, carrot, celery and garlic. Sweat the onion gently in olive oil for 5 minutes, add the other veg then cook on a low heat for about 15 minutes.
3. Add your ham stock, and a tin of chopped tomatoes. Bring to the boil.
4. Add veg/ beans of choice: I went for a tin of borlotti beans and shredded cabbage. You could add potatoes if liked. Remember to add veg in the order they will cook through, or you will have a mushy mess.
5. Right at the end, add small bits of broken spaghetti, or risoni. Chop the ham from your hock into small bits and add in. Don’t overcook or it will go rubbery.
6. Serve with plenty of grated parmesan, and a dollop of pesto if you like.

Burger King.

you will need [list]
[*]Tin of Beans – heinz for preference. One per person[/*]
[*]Toast. 3 or 4 pieces per person, adjust figures to suit[/*]
[*]Butter. **** TONS of it. [/*]
[/list]

Heat the beans gently in a saucepan. keep them bubbling for a while then turn off and allow to congeal.

toast the bread.

Turn the beans back on. This cooling and congealing process allows them to soften to the point where you get “mushy beans”

Liberally cover the toast with butter. No, more than that. Proper layers of butter, so thick you leave teeth marks.

Arrange the buttered toast on a plate, cover with beans, serve with a pint mug of tea. DO NOT add cheese on pain of being accused a southerner

I’ll roll this one out again, is ludicrously delicious and comforting- one of mum’s from the 1970s when we were weathering the strikes – jumpers for goalposts, wipe a tear etc…

Jacket Potatoes with corned beef and cheese

1. Jacket spuds ( oven cooked till skins crisp)

2. Cut in half

3. Scoop the hot cooked potato from skins with spoon.

4. In a bowl, use fork and mash together with butter and corned beef slices until the mash is half-meaty (technical!)

5. Return meaty buttery mash to the skins, top with cheddar cheese, return to oven or grill and cook until bubbly.

Serve with your favourite brown sauce and a smile.

Buy a cherry pie… put in oven…

Buy Ambrosia custard, server on top of hot pie… cold.

chicken chorizo and chickpea stew. loads of toms, garlic, chilli, mixed beans. cooked slow and long.
delicious.

The leg of lamb and boulangere potatoes I cooked for lunch last Sunday.

Chorizo pork-belly and chickpea casserole is just lovely, served it Sat with roast tat’s/parnip’s, steamed green beans and corn bread to mop up (used the excess cornbread with soup sunday).

Otherwise choizo stew… 200g chopped choizo (dried type like Revilla not a fresh ‘sausage’ type), can of tomatoes, a can of mixed bean in chilli sauce, some passata (or water) to top up & as much fresh chilli (or flakes) as you want. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes, serve with rice… should maybe do 4 ppl definitely 3, but does 2 greedy ones!
(PS: this choizo stew doesn’t reheat well, no idea why not, hense I make it to size & it’s just quick)

Nigel Slater’s smoked mackerel dauphinoise

Cheap, a doddle to make, stodgy and creamy. What’s not to like?

Big plate of beef stew with dunplings followed by apple crumble with custard.

Some bloody gorgeous sounding stuff already folks!!

StefMcDef – I’ve done that recipe a few times, but with added cheese. A potential coronary on a plate! 😀

bookmarked. 🙂

– Chilli-con-economy with Baked Beans –

Tbsp oil in big pan, brown off a pack of frozen ground meat (beef or lamb or even mixed beef and pork savers mince works very well) along with two diced onions

Stir in:

1level tbsp cumin powder (or grind seeds yrself)
1 good tsp oregano
1 good tsp mustard
1 level tbsp smoked paprika
few good pinches of red chilli flakes to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Give a stir and heat further for 30 secs

Add tin chopped tomatoes
Add tin baked beans in tom sauce

Stir well

Cook slowly for 35-45 mins stirring occasionally

Serve with anything – (plain tortilla chips and sour cream is exceptional) and a solid bottle of red.

Tartiflette.
Slice some potatoes and part-boil in milk.
At the same time, soften an onion or 2.
Drain the potatoes and layer them in an oven proof dish with some pancetta, some kind of spicy sausage and the onions.
Season generously.
Add a good glug of dry white wine.
Now add on top of this ensemble add a whole wheel of reblochon cheese (or Camembert if you’re pushed).
Bake for 30 mins or so.
Serve with a crisp green salad dressed with a good mustard dressing.
Book appointment at coronary unit.

Vegetarian option (is also vegan if exchange the honey for sugar), invented tried and tested last month as the household Autumn Special:

-Sweet Potato and Lentil Chilli-

1. Dice: 2 onion, 1 medium/lge sweet potato, 1 green bell pepper, 2-3 fresh jalapenos, a big carrot, 4-5 cloves garlic, sauteé the lot in oil in big pan for 15 mins

2. Add 2-3 diced fresh tomatoes, stir and cook another 5 mins on mdm heat.

3. Add a tablespoon ground cumin, another one of red flaked chillies, handful of dried or fresh oregano, tsp mustard, teaspoon of brown sauce, salt and black pepper to taste, tin of toms, teaspoon of marmite or similar, tablespoon tom puree, level tablespoon of cocoa powder, half a can drained chickpeas, can drained red kidney beans, small can of drained sweetcorn and handful split yellow peas

4. Add hot water to make up sauce not too runny and cook for 10 mins until boiling.

5. In another pan add a cup of dark green lentils (ie puy) to a cup or two of water with two heaped tsps of veg stock powder (or cups of yr own chosen stock) , boil and then cook til soft. Add these to chili sauce, add a handful of rice and cook for twenty minutes. Add more water as required.

6. Sweeten with a few spoons of honey and stir. Let stand awhile. Bob is your mothers brother! i think thats about it. Easy to modify with whatever. I’d use mesquite liquid smoke early on if I had it, but a good dessert spoon of smoked paprika works well as an alternative (add at step 3)

Ah Tartiflette, so lethal, so delicious.

Mine is Kleftico

Whole lamb shoulder
Waxy potatoes quartered
Oregano (lots at least 3 tablespoons)
Tin of chopped tomatoes
Whole bulb of garlic peeled
Bayleaf or two
A Lemon in quarters
Half a bottle of decent red
salt and pepper
Put all of that in a cast iron casserole with a very tight fitting lid, spuds at the bottom cook all day on about 120 deg take lid off and give it 20 mins on max at the end to brown.

Serve with crusty bread.

You’re playing a blinder here Malvern Rider! The Corned beef spuds may be on tonights agenda, I reckon! They sound awesome 😀

On a similar theme, another personal favourite Delias corned beef hash with fried eggs

Spanish lentil stew, made it on Saturday – great for cold wet days:

500g lentils
2 stewing chorizo
1 morcilla (black pudding)
1 marrow bone
Veal shank (piece, 200g or so)
2 onions
2 chopped tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
1 green bell pepper
2 tsp paprika

1. Blitz the onions, garlic and pepper (minus stem+seeds) in a food processor, finely sliced but not too mushy
2. Fry the onions/garlic/pepper mix in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil until soft.
3. Add the tomatoes and fry for another couple of minutes
4. Add the paprika, marrow bone and veal shank, stir well and cook for another minute or so
5. Add the lentils and enough cold water to at least twice their depth – leave a bit of space at the top of the pan for the rest of the ingredients.
6. Bring to the boil then simmer, covered, for an hour.
7. Check the taste and add salt and more water if required.
8. Add the chorizo and morcilla and simmer for another 30-45 minutes

Shakshuka – Eggs baked in spicy tomato/pepper stew.

This is listed as a brunch recipe but, since ‘er indoors now keeps chickens and we have four eggs to get through every day, it’s become a welcome addition to the regular dinners roster.

Nice with any kind of flatbread.

Binners that’s a nice spicy beef stew, but goulash it isn’t. No caraway seed and it should be broiled on top of the stove. (Takes ages and ages but there’s nowt better with jacket potato).

Bacon, Leek & Potato Hotpot
Preheat the oven to 190C.
Layer Bacon, sliced leeks & slices of peeled potato in an oven proof dish.
For 4 people this would be 8 rashers bacon, 2 large leeks and 8 med/large potatoes.
Make a thick white sauce, about 1 pint for 4 people, and cover the layers with it. Ensure the dish is covered – on a ceramic oven dish I use tin foil.
Then put in the oven.

Go the pub/for a night ride, cook for 2 hours although the longest time I’ve cooked it for was 5, I think; there was a lock-in.

Braised beef and carrots in nice dark onion gravy. With horseradish or mustard mash.

Ye gods, must have it now. How can a thread be so good yet so evil!!? Comfort food and small portions do not mix.

That shakshuka looks tasty, relatively healthy, and a new one on me, will make it tmrw!

Stew of chicken thighs, with diced swede, carrots, spuds and a chopped and fried onion.

Add bay leaves, rosemary, black pepper, wine if you fancy and bouillon powder in boiling water. Bit of chilli maybe.

Cook for about 4 hours on 170ish, getting it out to mix up and break up the chicken thighs after 2 hours or so.

** Variant **

Also very nice with dates, harissa paste and cumin instead of rosemary.

Really needs crusty french bread or similar, buttered generously, to serve.

piping hot custard & ice cream. end of.

About to go and cook a batch of stewed ox cheek, thanks to a wonderful butcher who now keeps it for me in case I go in. Apparently they used to feed it to their cats, but it’s too good for that if you ask me.

Served up with suet dumplings for the ultimate in comfort food!

(Or, of course, apple crumble and custard…)

A pan of pasta, pot of green pesto and grated cheese of your choice on top..

Make sure you are really generous with the pesto.. If you’re feeling sophisticated, add a salad of your choice with some toasted pine nuts, cherry toms and a squeeze of lemon juice

‘Tuna slop’

Fry onion, add can of tuna, knob of butter, bit of flour, milk, makes a nice rich creamy sauce, bit of pepper, add to pasta of your choice.

5 mins work. 😀

this thread isnt comfort food, its just food.

comfort food to me is stuff like a dipping crunchy smeared with peanut in hot choclate; or a microwaved mars bar spread on digestives with a sprinkling of horlicks powder?

Shakshuka – Eggs baked in spicy tomato/pepper stew.

This is listed as a brunch recipe but, since ‘er indoors now keeps chickens and we have four eggs to get through every day, it’s become a welcome addition to the regular dinners roster.

Nice with any kind of flatbread.

Good shout. Our local Moroccan restaurant does it with a merguez sausage – bloody lovely!

Anyone got an ‘ultimate’ macaroni cheese recipe?

Tonight’s dinner, slow roast lamb. It’s got some other stuff in there too. Not much of a recipie I know but my wife assembled it….

Cake. Sh*t loads of cake. With a pot of (Yorkshire) tea.

Fair point there on the comfort food – What about Peanut butter milkshakes including a pint of best vanilla ice cream and half a tub of peanut butter, now there’s lethal in a glass, tasty though…

1
Some crusty bread – Aldi part baked ciabatta rolls are perfect
Chorizo – spicy, Tesco do a decent spicy one, but Aldi fine and keeps the shopping in one place
slice some mozzarella

Cut the chorizo into lengths that will fit on the rolls, then slice in half lengthways. Prick the skin and fry in very little oil skin side up for a couple of minutes, then turn over, layer on some of the mozzarella and fry the other side, spooning some of the oil over the cheese – the bright red oil on the white cheese looks amazing. Once the cheese has melted, shovel the chorizo and cheese onto the ciabatta rolls.

2.
cheese beanos – beans on toast with a splash of chilli sauce, covered in cheese – cheddar or similar – then stuck under the grill to melt the cheese

3.
stovies – fry onion in lard, add corned beef and stock, mash up and add mashed potato. often served with an oatcake.

grum – Member

Anyone got an ‘ultimate’ macaroni cheese recipe?
If we’re talking comfort food it’s…..

@lemonysam, I ran out of Zhoug last week