Food ‘n Drink

Winter’s kicked in and so has wintery cooking. With the temperature dropping you need to eat more filling foods to ensure your body can generate the heat it needs. So it’s time for soups, stews and hearty hot meals. We’ve recently been trying out some Colman’s packet sauces such as Beef Bourguignon and Chicken Casserole, adding in some extra ingredients of our own (wine, extra stock, herbs etc).

A good meal for lunch times is, of course, soup. The Covent Garden Soup Co produce very good fresh soups available to buy in most supermarkets and some smaller convenience shops as well. Each carton usually serves 2 people so it’s not too badly priced and they’re handy to keep in the fridge. However there’s nothing like homemade soup using the basic ingredients that most people will have in their kitchen.

My favourite soup is Chicken. Whilst you can make this using a stock cube I’d rather get the stock from the left over bones and carcass of a roast chicken. To get a fresh soup simply add 1-2 pints of water in a saucepan with the bones broken up to be submerged, bring it to the boil and simmer for about an hour. Then put the contents through a sieve, add some veg and lentils if desired, and bring back to the boil. I like to add in some egg vermicelli as well to add a little bulk to the soup. Of course it’s best served with fresh bread

Other winter food on the menu at present is
Lasagne
Beef Bourguignon
Chicken Casserole
Chicken Chasseur
Shepherds Pie
Sausages and Mash
Jacket Potatoes
Soup

What wintery meals are you on to now?