Comfort Food ~ Delicious Ways to Keep Warm

I understand that it is soon to be become a lot colder, so I thought I’d post a list of some of my favourite “rib sticking” comfort food recipes.  

The first one, of course, is  Penne Pasta in a Creamy Blue Cheese Sauce with Roasted Pears which I wrote about in my previous post – it is delicious!

Here are some other recipes I think could have a lovely warming effect on a cold day.

Melted Onion Panade

Pictured below is my thick, warm, comforting, cheap and utterly delicious sort of French Onion Soup / Bread Pudding Cross! 

The onion panade recipe is here.

Cod, Chorizo and Beans

The simple guidelines for cooking white fish in a delectable mixture of tomatoes, beans, chorizo and a little chilli are here.

And soup – obviously!

Here’s a couple of my favourite winter warmers …

~ Butternut squash and Roasted Garlic Soup
~ A bit inauthentic but gorgeous French Onion Soup – ish!

I have, as it happens, written a book about soup, Soup (Almost) the Only Recipe You’ll Ever Need with lots and lots of recipes all based on my one simple method, you can use this way of making soup to make almost any flavour you fancy (but not French Onion Soup so it’s lucky I added here!).!

Winter Desserts…

Manly Marmalade Bread Pudding

Not the wobbly creamy bread and butter pudding type thing (although that recipe is in the same post) but lovely rib-sticking bread pud!

Here’s the wobbly creamy kind!

Bread (and Possibly No Butter) Pudding

Serves 4

Traditionally this comprises slices of buttered bread layered up and baked in a custard but I don’t think there is much to be gained by the butter and, if you don’t have to butter it, random pieces of leftover bread are easier to use.

If the bread isn’t stale dice or tear into into pieces and either leave it around the place for an hour or so or put it on a baking tray and pop in the oven for a few minutes.

100g-150g stale bread in small chunks
75g of dried fruit, possibly alcohol soaked, which is lovely!
200ml milk
100ml double cream
2 eggs
80g sugar plus a little for sprinkling
½ tsp vanilla essence

~ Put the bread into a lightly greased ovenproof dish or divide between ramekins.
~ Whisk together all the other ingredients and pour over pushing the bread under the surface to soak it. Set aside for 30 minutes or more – even overnight will do.
~ Preheat oven to 350˚F/180˚C/160˚C Fan/gas 4.
Sprinkle the pudding with the extra sugar and bake for about 40 minutes till risen, golden and slightly wobbly when nudged.
~ Serve hot, warm or cold but warm is best.

This one has pecans in it instead of dried fruit but you can, of course, add what you like!

Toffee Apple Crumble

This is the best Apple Crumble I have ever made – perfect for the windfalls that are ubiquitous just now!

Keep Warm!