Comfort food now the nights are drawing in

[TitaniaQueenOfTheFairies]

What are your favourite vegetarian comfort food dishes? I just made shepherdess pie, one for tomorrow and one for the freezer. Thinking macaroni cheese, baked potatoes, stew and dumplings, anything with puff pastry...

What are your favourites for this time of year?

[milliefiori]

I've just had homemade butternut, carrot, leek, chilli and ginger soup for lunch. It was delicious. Tasted really creamy but it was vegan.

[Stumpedasatree]

I also like PP make very similar soups. Celery, carrot, tomato, red pepper, butternut, onion, garlic and red lentils, saute, then pressure cooked in veg stock, then blend. And various versions of that. Moroccan lentil soup is lovely.

Another one I love is this lentil soup. I also do a lot of daals and curries. Bit of a theme here! Bean chilli, normal chilli, risotto, shepherd's pie and stews (beef or chicken) are all winners with my DC.

[managedmis]

I made a really lovely butternut squash and turnip soup yesterday.

Recipe :

Half a turnip
half a butternut squash
an onion

Saute for ten mins on low heat

Add :
garlic
sage
stock
handul red lentils

Summer till veg are soft. Blend till smooth. S&P

Yum!

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

I think one of my problems with aubergine is that it's so often served with tomatoes, and I don't really like them either!


Jamie Oliver's stuffed butternut squash is nice.

And I roast butternut squash with red onion, garlic and sage then turn it into a pasta sauce with white wine and cream - lovely on a cold autumn night.

[LemonPrism]

Beef stew with cranberry in it and Yorkshire puds.

Lamb tagine with apricots.

Sausage tagliatelle.

Shepherds pie makes me vomit tbh. Don't know why (I've eaten raw jellyfish) but I just can't.

[MoreMoneyPlease]

Potato bake with cheesy topping served with peas and sweet corn. Any leftover bake can be whizzed up the next day with stock to make a lovely soup to have with crusty bread.

[OneIsAWorldOfBooks]

I make a lot of pies this time of year, sometimes just veg and sometimes with quorn. Mushroom and leek is nice with a creamy sauce. Sometimes top with pastry or sweet potato mash.

Veggie satay curry, I loosely follow the bbc good food recipe for peanut butter chicken but use butternut squash/sweet potato etc instead of chicken.

Pasta dishes: halloumi pasta, spinach and ricotta cannelloni, lasagne.

[LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD]

Arancini - why didn’t I think of that! I love them (the Cauldron ones are really nice, as are the Sainsbury beetroot and goats cheese ones).

[eurochick]

Risotto. Make double and then breadcrumb and fry/bake the leftovers as arancini.

[LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD]

Now I’m drooling...

[LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD]

And another favourite ‘cat stew’ (lame joke because ghormeh sounds a little like ‘cat’ in Persian.

Yes it’s very green but is really lovely with rice. Again - dried lemons give it a zesty zing.

www.196flavors.com/iran-ghormeh-sabzi/

[LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD]

Oh my god - now this is traditionally made with duck - but the sauce is so lovely I have it with rice by itself (but my favourite restaurant has started to add fried aubergine to bulk it out a bit and that’s good too).

[LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD]

Oh yum. www.196flavors.com/azerbaijan-kuku/

(Persian not Azerbaijani!)

[LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD]

I’ve tried to find a recipe with a nice photo (it’s really lovely but some of the photos look awful!) and this version does have the traditional meat (just ignore that bit) but I find restaurants usually make it without these days anyway. Now the sour grapes are not a ‘must’ - but they are tart little gems of you like sour - or dried lemons can also be used (easier to get a hold off) for that tart zing.

This page also has a few of my other faves!

www.196flavors.com/iran-khoresh-bademjan/

[milliefiori]

@RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie - no. What about imam bayildi and aubergine curries? I love aubergine.

[milliefiori]

I have @TitaniaQueenOfTheFairies, thank you. I got so excited when I saw she was featuring ratatouille but none of those is quite right either. I think I might have to book onto some cookery school in Provence...

[Thistle72]

Oooh what’s that Persian dish all about??? Love lentils!!!!

[LordProfFekkoThePenguinPhD]

I’m a big fan of soup - thick lumpy soup with lovely bread and butter (or a cheese sandwich).

[cwg1]

Just posted this on another thread. Do try Leek, Carrot and Potato Pie from the original fair trade cookbook - just google.

Simple, seasonal, inexpensive. It's a real traditional style winter warmer...

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

Ooh just remembered this, which is bloody brilliant comfort food -

get big flat mushrooms - put a bit of butter or olive oil in them plus some finely chopped garlic, s&p and a few chopped sage leaves

slice a red onion into big fat rounds and drizzle with a bit of oil

bake them until all is brown and bubbling and lovely

Put into rolls, with baby spinach leaves and a dollop of Stokes chilli jam. Eat with corn on the cob.

[AgnesNaismith]

Oops.....I may have missed the word vegetarian there........

As you were

[YetAnotherSpartacus]

Aubergine Parmigiana!

www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/aubergine-parmigiana-melanzane-alla-parmigiana/

[TitaniaQueenOfTheFairies]

I forgot the garlic!

[TitaniaQueenOfTheFairies]

Ahem @AgnesNaismith

Now, what about a field mushroom, some sort of oozy cheese & thyme. All tucked up in some puff pastry. Might serve with French beans and mash - with those crispy onions.

[TitaniaQueenOfTheFairies]

@milliefiori have you seen this series in the Guardian, they look at different approaches to classic recipes and combine the best approaches.