Winter Warmers – Five of my favourite Seasonal Recipes. Big, hearty dishes are my style of cooking. Flavour packed soups and curries, slow-cooked stews and casseroles and proper puddings. When the weather is cold and wet is there anything better than a great Thai Green Curry or steaming Roasted Pepper and Tomato Soup? While perhaps there is not the variety of fruit and vegetables as the summer, winter is great for root vegetables and using cheaper cuts of meat. I always find more flavour in chicken thighs and braised shin of beef. There are lots more ideas on the blog so please take a look around.
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Massaman Beef Curry
Massaman curry is regularly voted in the world’s top dishes. It is a rather special mix of the typical flavours you will find in Thai food. Such as chillies, garlic, coriander, and shrimp paste. Alongside more Eastern aromatics cinnamon, cloves, star anise, bay leaves, nutmeg and mace among other ingredients.
Braised Lamb Shank
There is a substantial amount of meat on a large shank enough for the largest of appetites and I would say ample for two average dinners with the addition of a selection of vegetables. While the price of all lamb has risen quite substantially there can still be bargains to be had in the freezer section of your local supermarket and frozen lamb shanks are a great product to use as you are really going to drive flavour into the meat with your intensely flavoured cooking liquor and slow-cooking
Spanish Chorizo and Potato Soup
Soup is tasty, nutritious, extremely good value for money, easy to make and you can use lots of store cupboard staple ingredients and most of the odd bits in the fridge. Now I had some potatoes, onions, and Chorizo in my fridge, so in my mind, I was thinking something simple with perhaps a Spanish taste, the potatoes soaking up the flavour of the Chorizo. I looked up a recipe and came across Patatas Riojanas, a very simple rustic soup or stew from La Rioja.
Baked Rice Pudding with Rhubarb and Ginger
Nothing says comfort food to me like a creamy, baked rice pudding. Made with full-fat Jersey milk and cream with a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg. The recipe for rice pudding is great just as it is. However, if you want to take your rice pudding to the next level you can add some poached rhubarb, then my secret ingredient some crumbled ginger biscuits.
Beef Bourguignon
This is a classic French recipe that comes from the Bourgogne or Burgundy region of France and is traditionally made using Charolais beef. Today restaurants serve far more elaborate versions of the dish which was originally a simple stew. Traditional the beef was threaded or larded with bacon fat and it was marinated in red wine for up to two days for extra flavour before being cooked with the marinade, vegetables, and a bouquet garni.
