The way I cook in winter
Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet
Mid week meals are all about simple, low maintenance and low fuss. In summer, salads and stir fries are the perfect solution. However as we head into winter I find myself wanting something more hearty.
In winter I want easy and hearty and healthy.
Which can seem like a big ask. But it’s why each winter I find myself drawn to one pot cooking. Dishes where you roughly measure a series of ingredients into a casserole dish, place in the oven, walk away and then 40 minutes or an hour later, you have a wonderful dinner. It takes time, but no effort.
These recipes cook themselves. And they constantly remind me of the alchemy of cooking. Ingredients, heat and time yields a meal so much greater than the sum of its parts.
I cook these meals on the weekend, or if I’m working from home. They require about 10 minutes of attention and then leave me free. To carry on working, doing chores or lie on the couch wrestling with the latest sudoku.
Most one-pot meals make excellent leftovers. These dishes are usually even better the next day. In the fridge, the flavours have further time to fuse and soften, gaining in complexity and delicious-ness.
Over the next few days I’m going to be featuring some of my favourite one-pot meals. There will be a couple of my own recipes, plus links to other’s.
And I’d love to know – what are your favourite one-pot meals?
28 May, 2008
Comments
I like making chicken stew with veggies (carrots, celery, onions & tomatoes) served with rice.
Oh, yes.
Just my thinking. Looking forward to it.
You’re brave tackling those sudoku thing-os. I see numbers and suddenly my brain goes blank!
Looking forward to your one-pot wonders, and hoping to see some low GI recipes in the mix if possible?
I’ve just discovered your website and love what I see so far.
Hey Katherine long time no visit. Hope you are doing well. Afraid I check in from time to time but not as often as I should. Your one pot section has me excited. And guess what? I have a pot cooking right now with two ham hocks in it, a packet of green split peas, two carrots, three sticks of celery, two onions and four bay leaves bubbling away on the stove as the rain is falling outside. It is going to be a delicious dinner with fresh crusty bread.
Looking forward to the next few days on your blog.
Jan – lovely to hear what your favourite is. It’s so easy to get plenty of vegetables in there.
Lucy – I am horrifyingly addicted to sudoku. Love them, have given up on the crossword, I find them so absorbing.
Jen – I’ll definitely be including low GI recipes. In fact, all the ones I have planned are low GI. Not sure I know how to cook anything else these days.
Mariana – HELLO. How lovely to hear from you and what good timing. I’ve had a pot of soup cooking today, plus one of the one-pot dishes in the oven. One of the benefits of working from home. Plus it means my house smells glorious. As I’m sure yours does at the moment!
lovely idea – My sister’s new boyfriend made dinner for us on Sunday – a hearty, chunky lamb soup.
It inspired me to pick up some pearl barley this week and get the recently purchased french oven into action…
What a great question, I love one pot meals especially healthy ones. I quite like chili-vegetarian of course, lentil quinoa stew with veggies and the colourful and tasty purple cabbage and sweet potato soup here:
http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2006/03/purple-cabbage-sweet-potato-soup.html
Hi Kathryn, I’m a recent convert to your blog and like it very much. I love your earthy, honest approach and inspiring recipes and ideas. Here in the UK it’s summer (allegedly) but we are still enjoying one-pot meals. My current fave is a lovely spicy mixture of butternut squash, aubergine and chickpeas. Keep up the good work!
Favourite one pot meals – definitely soup of every variety. In winter/autumn, I try to make a pot of soup a week. A friend and I swap a frozen tupperware of soup whenever we get a chance. Good way to get different flavours.
Pea and Ham, Mulligatwany, minestrone, pumpkin are all in my freezer at the moment.
My husband likes my version of sausage casserole – sauserole. I haven’t made it yet this winter. Basically 4 good quality sausages pan fried and sliced thickly, chuck in the oven with beans, tin of tomatoes, red wine, onion and vegetables. Serve with polenta or mash. Very hearty!
Grocer – pearl barley is an excellent one-pot ingredient. At this time of year my Le Creuset pots are always on the go.
Kristy – thanks for posting that link. I often struggle to find interesting things to do with red cabbage, but that recipe is a beauty. Can imagine it’s packed full of flavour.
Sue – thanks so much for leaving a comment and for your feedback. I think pumpkin and chickpeas are probably my two favourite one-pot ingredients. Something wonderful seems to happen to them, when cooked with herbs, stock and garlic.
Other Sue (!) – what a good idea to swap soup varieties with a friend, to increase the variety you’re eating. Love that. And you’ve reminded me that it’s a long, long time since I’ve made mulligatawny. Always one of my favourite soups, and also as sauce over boiled eggs. Yum.
I’d have to say Moroccan spiced lamb shanks served with cous cous. My brand new pink le creuset pot will do the trick!
Christine – lamb shanks do make a lovely meal, but most of the recipes I’ve looked at involve some faffing about – browning the meal, sauteeing vegetables and so on. Do you have a really simple recipe?
One of our favorites is ‘Italian casserole’. Just a whole heap of vegetables; eggplant, zucchini, onion, potato and capsicum, with garlic and herbs (fennel is a must) and a tin of tomatoes, into the oven, and that’s it! It’s great because we can make a huge pot and serve it a couple of different ways; by itself, with pasta, over meat (home made sausages works very well) or my favorite, with slow baked potatoes. It’s a very forgiving recipe, and the veggies can be changed around depending on what’s in season.
That sounds delicious Kelly – and a very similar style of cooking to my Greek ‘chicken’ recipe. Also a very forgiving and flexible recipe, that can be tweaked and changed. I love the idea of yours with eggplant and fennel – will have to give that a go.
Stewing venison,quince, and onion, seasoned with ginger and cinnamon. I use a dark beer for the cooking liquid. Tonight I’m trying a similar recipe with (organic) veal from the farmer’s market and butternut squash.
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