Food: Winter Fare

[mpemburn]

As an unapologetic food-o-phile, I enjoy both good food and the preparation thereof. When the the weather turns to cold for grilling (though I did do a fine bit of salmon on a plank last night), I have several dishes that are in regular rotation: whole roasted chicken (and soup a couple of days later), stewed collard or other greens, slow cooked short ribs, chicken enchiladas, and pan-seared salmon with greens and citrus.

Do you have Winter favorites? (What a question, right?) Do you like to cook? Tell all!

 

[Reynard]

Where to start?

Soups for one - ranging from the traditional good old fashioned alphabet or tomato through smoked bacon & lentil, minestrone, curried parsnip, leek & potato, scotch broth, cullen skink, sweet potato, carrot & red lentil... The variety is endless really.

Nothing speaks of comfort like a good beef stew, a fish pie, a punchy veggie curry or a chilli (meat or veggie depending on what I've got in). It's all about stick-to-the-ribs stodge and (mostly) big, bold flavours.

Don't do much in the way of desserts, but a nice apple crumble and custard goes down well on the odd occasion.

 

[mpemburn]

Where to start?

Soups for one - ranging from the traditional good old fashioned alphabet or tomato through smoked bacon & lentil, minestrone, curried parsnip, leek & potato, scotch broth, cullen skink, sweet potato, carrot & red lentil... The variety is endless really.

Nothing speaks of comfort like a good beef stew, a fish pie, a punchy veggie curry or a chilli (meat or veggie depending on what I've got in). It's all about stick-to-the-ribs stodge and (mostly) big, bold flavours.

Don't do much in the way of desserts, but a nice apple crumble and custard goes down well on the odd occasion.

One after my own heart! With soups, I’m a bit of a one-trick pony: chicken. We do have a butternut squash eyeing us reproachfully…

 

[Reynard]

One after my own heart! With soups, I’m a bit of a one-trick pony: chicken. We do have a butternut squash eyeing us reproachfully…

I'll make soup with whatever's knocking about that needs using up.

Butternut squash with roasted garlic is fabby, btw...

 

[biggs682]

Home chicken soup or broth
Casseroles

 

[CanucksTraveller]

Curried winter vegetable soup. About 2 pounds of veg like butternut squash, carrot, swede, onion, a parsnip, and maybe a sweet potato, all cubed and softened in olive oil for 10 minutes or so, add in 2 tsp madras curry powder for the last two minutes. Add in enough stock to cover, and simmer it until the vegetables are soft, then blitz smooth.

Roasted red pepper soup: Core, oil and salt about 8 big red peppers in the oven skin side up until skins blacken and blister. Put them in a sealed plastic back and leave to cool, then remove the skins, and then blitz them with some chicken stock and a teaspoon of paprika. Add in some cubes of chorizo at the end when you reheat it.

 

[Chief Broom]

Prawn curry 600gm prawns, 1lb of potatoes cooked n cubed, tin of chopped toms, 1 onion, 8 cloves garlic and equivalent weight grated ginger, fresh chillies,half tsp turmeric,3tsp cumin,2tsp coriander, 8 cardamon, half tsp garam masala, 1inch cinnamon, 3tbs yoghurt, fresh chopped coriander
Adapted from a Madhur Jaffry recipe, i like it with an indian salad, raita and chutney

 

[Alex321]

As others have said, a nice home made soup - most commonly butternut squash & bacon, or potato & leek, but we have tried quite a few others at various times.
And stews - we had a nice Cawl last night (Welsh lamb stew with Leeks and other vegetables), and I made a nice venison stew last week.

Sausages with mash & onion gravy.

But we don't tend to change our diet very much in the winter, most of those things e will have all year round, just maybe a bit les often in the summer.

I'm not sure what this "too cold for grilling" means, unless you are meaning barbecue grilling (may be a difference in the way the word is used between UK and USA).

 

[raleighnut]

Sweetcorn chowder

An onion or two
some spuds ( cut into little cubes)
Tin of Sweetcorn

Saute the Onions in Olive Oil then add the Spuds for about 10 minutes then put some Water in (enough to cover) boil for 10 minutes then add the Sweetcorn (either a big tin or some frozen) then boil for another 10 mins.

Scoff

 

[mpemburn]

I'm not sure what this "too cold for grilling" means, unless you are meaning barbecue grilling (may be a difference in the way the word is used between UK and USA).

Barbecue grilling is what I mean, yes (though the term “barbecue” refers to smoked meat in my lexicon). “Too cold” means having to wear a hat, coat, and gloves to deal with it. Takes the pleasure out of it for me.

 

[MichaelW2]

Casserol with dumplings.
The Norfolk ones are more like Euro dumplings made of bread ( I blame the Hanseatic League) but I prefer suet dumplings.

 

[Alex321]

Barbecue grilling is what I mean, yes (though the term “barbecue” refers to smoked meat in my lexicon). “Too cold” means having to wear a hat, coat, and gloves to deal with it. Takes the pleasure out of it for me.

I can imagine it would.

So yes, just a difference in the way the word is used

Here in the UK, "grilling" is just a term for cooking things on or under a direct heat source without oil or fat. Most cookers have a grill function, and it is how I will usually cook steak or bacon or various other things.

And "barbeque" is either a noun, meaning the device used to cook (grill) over hot charcoal or the verb meaning to cook in that way.

 

[Reynard]

“Too cold” means having to wear a hat, coat, and gloves to deal with it. Takes the pleasure out of it for me.

That's pretty well par-for-course here in the UK. Except for the one day of summer.

Snorkel and flippers might also be needed on occasion.

 

[Reynard]

Made a fabby caulisprout cheese last night.

Anything with brasiccas is very much of-the-season.

 

[presta]

I have a menu with about 40 meals on it, and I cook them all in equal quantities (to avoid cherry picking), summer or winter.

Prawn curry 600gm prawns, 1lb of potatoes cooked n cubed, tin of chopped toms, 1 onion, 8 cloves garlic and equivalent weight grated ginger, fresh chillies,half tsp turmeric,3tsp cumin,2tsp coriander, 8 cardamon, half tsp garam masala, 1inch cinnamon, 3tbs yoghurt, fresh chopped coriander
Adapted from a Madhur Jaffry recipe, i like it with an indian salad, raita and chutney

I have a madras recipe adapted from a Madhur Jaffery book. It was fish, but I make it with fish, chicken or veg.

3 portions:

• 500g Fish/chicken/veg
• 220g Onion
• 400g Tinned tomatoes
• 15g Flour
• 40g Oil
• 3 Garlic cloves
• 30g Ginger
• 2.5cc Ground cumin
• 1.25cc Cumin seeds
• 7.5cc Coriander leaf
• 2.5cc Ground coriander
• 5cc Garam masala
• 2.5cc Cayenne pepper
• 1.25cc Ground turmeric
• 0.6cc Black pepper
• 0.6cc Salt

I had a fish madras last night.