That last is particularly pertinent: it may be freezing outside, but in the wake of Christmas indulgence, it is to healthy food that we naturally cleave in these chilly times.
With that in mind, here are six of our favourite ways to cook through winter: dishes that keep out the cold while supporting the body, warming without weighing us down.
Sausage, Mustard & Apple Hash
BBC Good Food
We tend to store sausages in the indulgent category of our mental store cupboard. This deeply warming hash, made with Cox’s apples, potatoes, olive oil, watercress and thyme, is so delicious and nourishing to eat by the fire that we’re rapidly rethinking. Perfect for a post-walk, crowd-pleasing, inexpensive and satisfyingly sating winter supper. Get the recipe.
Beans & Greens Soup
Food 52
Soup is perhaps the greatest hero of them all when it comes to food for winter nights. We especially like this goodness-laden example from Food 52, which features garlic, chickpeas (or other cooked beans), greens (think kale, chard, watercress, spinach and the like), olive oil and chilli for a little added heat. Just add buttery, comforting hunks of sourdough for the perfect seasonal repast. Get the recipe.
Healthy Chicken Stroganoff
Olive Magazine
When it comes to healthy suppers, we all know that lean meat or fish with vegetables are probably what we should be aiming for. But flavour matters too – and this excellent recipe from the always-ingenious Olive Magazine demonstrates perfectly how to marry tastiness with nutritional merit. Chicken breasts, chestnut mushrooms, garlic, stock, natural yogurt, Dijon mustard and lemon – all served up with steamed brown rice. Virtuous, warming, moreish, easy to make: all boxes ticked. Get the recipe.
Gill Meller's Butter Bean Soup With Kale
Brindisa
We love Gill Meller for always keeping things simple and rustic – and all the better for it. As he notes, ‘I’m using Judion butter beans in this recipe but you can use Faba beans or Galician white beans instead. I like the smoky depth and warmth that comes from the chorizo but it’ll be just as delicious without it, just add a pinch more paprika. I love to up the veg so I’m adding handfuls of black kale and lots of fresh vibrant parsley.’ The season calls for lashings and lashings of this hearty, soul-warming beauty. Get the recipe.
Chilli Cheese Jackets
Waitrose
What beats a good old jacket potato on a cold winter night? The answer to that is very little, except, that is, for a jacket potato embellished with excellent extras courtesy of Gurdeep Loyal – which is to say, chipotle paste, black garlic, tomato purée and jalapeño brine. Pure wintry comfort and joy. Get the recipe.
Beef & Stew Dumplings
BBC Food/ Nigel Slater
An absolute classic of a winter dish, Nigel Slater works his customary magic to bring us a beef stew with the added sublime comfort of not one but two dumplings: one suet, one herby oat. Perfect with a good glass of full-bodied medicinal red wine. Best eaten under a blanket. Get the recipe.
Pappa Al Pomodoro
Great Italian Chefs
This piece of typical Tuscan genius pulls off that region’s favourite trick: to make something sensational from very little at all. It also, we can confirm, comforts in the winter while offering something of the promise of summer too (on that last, all hail the glorious tomato). Made with stale bread, it’s bulky enough to be both deeply comforting and extremely flavoursome – just add a few flakes of chilli to taste for an extra little kick of heat. Get the recipe.
Winter Minestrone
Melissa Hemsley
How much goodness can you cram into a bowl? In cold-and-flu-ridden January, the answer must always be ‘as much as is humanly possible’, as Melissa Hemsley deftly demonstrates here. Celery, leek, white beans, garlic, squash, greens, chilli: you can literally feel it doing wonders to your system. Get the recipe.
