10 Cozy, Seasonal Dishes To Warm Up Your Winter Evenings
The best ways to keep the winter blues at bay are hearty plates of delicious homemade food!
Feed your body, mind and soul with these 10 winter warmer ideas - most of which can be made in a slow-cooker, meaning dinner is ready when you get home:
1 - Curry.
The beauty of a good curry is that it converts those veggies sitting in the back of the fridge into the moreish little mouthfuls! With these long, cold winter nights, loading a curry with turmeric, ginger, chilli (if your taste buds can handle it!) and coconut milk will have your body thanking you!
2 - Soup.
Of course! Nothing says winter like a big bowl of hot soup - plus, with the multitude of flavour combinations, one is unlikely to get too bored! Leek and potato, pumpkin and kumara, broccoli and blue cheese, cauliflower and celeriac, Minestrone, French onion soup - they're all sure to please!
3 - Risotto.
A solid dish that is loaded with good complex carbohydrates to give you enough energy on these cold days. Again, there are numerous combinations to avoid any monotony: pumpkin and sage, leek and spinach, mushroom and wild rice, cheddar and spring onion, cavolo nero and chilli, dried porcini and spinach… the options are enormous!
4 - Shakshuka.
Eggs poached in a flavoursome pot of tomato, onion, garlic and a plethora of greens, served with crusty bread is enough to get those salivary glands working overtime.
5 - Gratin: thinly sliced layers of potato, pumpkin, onion and/ or celeriac, interspersed with a creamy sauce and topped with cheeses… could one ask for more?!
6 - Homemade Pie.
Make your own pastry or go for an easy premade puff pastry to encase your favourite fillings. Pies are a great way to use up leftover roast veggies; a Shepherds pie (be it vegetarian or not) topped with a creamy layer of vegetable mash might be enough to jerk a tear from one's eye. Either way, a pie is a definite crowd-pleaser!
7 - Pasta Bake.
Again, the flavour options are endless! Creamy leek and spinach or a tomato and onion pasta topped with grated cheese is easy and tastes so much better when cooked twice. The classic lasagne (one has the option of using a vegetarian lentil mince) is an amazingly filling, delicious dish that can be made ahead for those busy weeknights.
8 - Enchiladas.
Fabulous for making ahead (there's nothing better than having dinner already prepped!), enchiladas are simple yet bound to impress even the most sceptical of consumers. Make a vegetarian or meaty mince complete with cumin, paprika, oregano, plenty of onion and garlic (we're going for full Mexican flavours here!), roll it up into tortillas, pop them in an oven dish, slather with a tomato passata sauce and plenty of cheese, then bake to golden perfection. Delish!
9 - Cauliflower Cheese.
The name says it all - an absolute winter classic. Elevate this dish to your family's top 3 meals by first roasting the cauli, slathering it in a béchamel sauce and melty cheese. Be sure to toss in a sprinkle of nutmeg to create a drool-worthy taste sensation.
10 - Homemade Bread.
If you're a sourdough sensation, then this is a given… but for those of you who haven't yet dabbled, an easy focaccia bread won't take too much time (or energy) and, when served alongside a meal (especially soup) with a healthy blob of butter, you'll be going back for seconds for sure!