Favorite cold weather recipes

I'm really not happy about his drop in temps so early, so I got to get my grove on with some tasty comfort foods to cook at home.

One of my favorites is the original Moosewood Cookbook carrot soup recipe.

Simply 1lb carrots simmered in broth until soft, sauteed onions and slivered almonds, thyme and honey--all whirled up in the blender with some low-fat yogurt for creaminess.

Really good soup.

Any ideas from the masses?

Stay warm everyone.

I'm about to make a batch of Navy Bean soup. It's great for a winter warm up.

butternut squash risotto, the ever popular Texas chili, beef vegetable soup

I love preparing a large pot of chicken & andouille gumbo and some jalapeno-cheddar corn muffins -- from the Heaven on Seven cookbook. I'm thinking of having some friends over for the Bears game Sunday and those 2 dishes are always hits in the cold weather.

From the New Moosewood Cookbook:

Gypsy Soup

As good as soup gets. I always add some meat or fish.

Bill/SFNM

I've got some leftover* grilled Sheyboygan (Miesfeld's) brats. Gonna saute a few onions, peppers and a bunch of garlic. Add some stock, a touch of bbq sauce (just a *touch*), two cans (I refuse to apologize) of drained navy beans, and the brats, sliced thick. Simmer until it tastes like I want it to, and then eat it.

[*There were 5.3 lbs of brats, four KC friends and I. I was worried lest I run out of brats before my friends ran out of appetite. Silly me. KC folks can eat some 'que, but man, they're wusses when it comes to brats... I'm embarrassed.]

Geo

for me, there are a plethora of great crockpot recipes.... that's perfect cold weather food for me!

LTH,

Tonight I made Roasted Potato Soup With Sour Cream and Bacon, which m'th'su had made earlier in the week and spoke highly of. Not over the top rich, no cream or butter added, and the soup helped my cold considerably. Next time I think I'll roast a few poblano and garlic cloves with the potatoes and leave out the thyme and bay leaf.

Enjoy,
Gary

Posole (Pork and Hominy Stew)

Let's see, what gets made when it gets cold:

Paprikash
Chili
Canned tomato soup and grilled cheese

and last night, added a new one to the I-can-run-the-oven repertoire: Char Siu roast pork. The marinade didn't penetrate as much as I'd hoped, but I ended up with a perfectly cooked 1/3 of a whole pork loin, and moist enough to squeeze liquid out of -- utterly delicious. Spooning a little marinade (brought to a boil on the stove first) over the sliced roast brought up the flavor level. Marinade was off the net: 1/2C soy, 1/2C sherry, 1/3C honey, 3/4C hoisin, 1T Sugar, spiked with a little sesame oil. Roasting rack over a little water, roast 10 min at 425F plus about another 60 at 325, basted with more marinade every 10 minutes.

Chicken and dumplings. An all day process produces the best taste, but there are shortcuts. I use Tyler Florence's recipe:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_16271,00.html

And I bake lots of bread. Mostly on the weekends when it's really cold outside so I have it for the week to eat with soups.

My favorite cold weather recipe is Beachside Quesadillas.


2- Fresh airline tickets to Hautulco
1- medium hotel reservation
4- handmade tortillas*
1- glob of Oaxacan melting cheese
salsa cruda
Optional: epazote or other herb for colour

Gather three stones upon which to balance your slaked lime-cured, earthenware comal. Build small fire under comal. Toss tortillas on comal and flip when slightly puffed. [Note: you may use turning device if you do not have the asbestos fingers of an old Mexican woman]. Scatter shreds of cheese over tortillas, sprinkle with epazote or other herbs as desired. You can also add cooked meats, a bit of mole or various fungi to make a more elaborate dish. Fold tortillas in half unto themselves. Continue to flip as tortillas develop uneven dark brown spots (fill with delight if they crackle and burst like a good pizza crust) and cheese is melted.

Serving suggestion:

Have the little boy at the end of the road (I think his name is Luiz) bring over two coconuts from his barrel, where they have been floating in ice water. Have him trim the top so you can suck out the cold juice, it helps keep you hydrated in this 95 degree heat. Return the "empty" for a deposit of coconut strips with a good squeeze of lime and a strong dash of chile/pico. Sit back under the palapa while nibbling bites of coconut in between torn-off hunks of quesadilla....and think about how all those poor so-and-sos in Chicago are making soup. Smear liberally with SPF 30 (you, not the food; the tropical sun is stronger than you think).

I hate the cold


In the alternative, I re-heat roasted red pepper veloute soup base I made in the summer adding frig leftovers and perhaps some roast chicken. However, as an imprinted Cheesehead, I usually feel my strongest urges to get out of the house on the coldest days....I then head to Tank for Pho. Nobody complains about the cold like the Vietnamese, or has a better cure for cold and colds.



* preferrably from a vendor that looks like they could use the business, so you feel good about yourself.

Pot roast. Slow cooked in oven. Scents the house. Warms the kitchen. Finish with mashed potatoes and green beans with a fruit cobbler for dessert.

Spaghetti Bolognese and garlic toast was last night. Thank goodness I had some previously made in the freezer.

Tonite: Crock pot bbq beef and colcannon. Also previously made and frozen.

Thanks for the tips and recipes!

kimchi chigae! steamy, spicy & porky! mmmm

Potaje de Garbanzos

"Wedding Soup" (Napolitano-American stracciatella with little meatballs)

Pasta e fagiole

Caldo Gallego

Fabada

Tamal en cazuela

ajiaco

pozole

Peking Duck

This time of year I can find a cold enough location in the basement to hang the duck(s), have a fan blow dry the skin and be reasonably food safe.

tonite it's meatloaf, cauliflower soup, and kasha varnishkes with lotsa sauteed onions

Two days ago, don't remember but we brined a pork roast.
Yesterday roast pork.
Today roast pork sandwiches.

Winter is for roasting....... We're not crazy about braises.

Nancy

Hi,

To mitigate the cabin fever aspects of cold weather hibernating, I plan to do a little cooking:

- Bake Japanese Milk Bread, because I want to make this towering layered sandwich of egg-potato salad, strawberry jam and finely shaved cabbage salad
- Mississippi pot roast using the beef cheeks and a packet of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing, but skipping the pepperoncini
- Binko's Jókai bableves (Jokai bean soup)

To please the person who shoveled the drive by hand and machine, I already made a chicken, mushroom and spinach lasagna. Long ago it was the first lasagna I ever made after watching the French Chef.

I may make a marzipan loaf mix I bought at Aldi. It was intended to go to a sister, but we haven't crossed paths yet. She won't miss what she does not have.

What are you doing stuck in the house?

Regards,
Cathy2

made a collagen rich pork stock this weekend from a few lbs of neck bones and trotters, gonna turn it into some pozole for the polar vortex

NY Times Cooking had a couple that caught my eye. Made Pearl Couscous with Creamy Feta and Chickpeas last night and have Cauliflower, Cashew, Pea and Coconut Curry queued up. They also had a Cauliflower Leek Gratin that Mr. X made last week. Smitten Kitchen has a lentil/sausage/chard soup that is a regular in our cold weather rotation.

Using freeze concentration (sometimes incorrectly called freeze distilling) to fortify a beer I made last week, by just leaving the de-pressurized keg outside. The colder it gets, the more it's concentrated.

Probably tomorrow night I'll try making Butter Chicken with spiced cashews.

Got fresh cremini and shiitake mushrooms from the hippie farmers at the Milwaukee Winter Farm Market. Sautéed in garlic butter with salt, pepper, and some herbs. Added marsala, cooked down. Took some of the sautéed mushrooms and processed into chunks. Added that, cream, more butter, fresh grated parm-regg, a bit of nutmeg, and finished with fresh parsley. Onto linguine and smiles abound. Full furnace.

Today, I whipped up a big pot of red beans for red beans & rice, subbing in my favorite Eastern European smoked meats and sausages for the tasso and andouille and making up for it with a little extra spicing. Nothing keeps me warmer than a big pot of beans or bean soup.

In the past week or two, I've made chicken chasseur, chili, pasta e fagiole, crockpot pulled pork, red beans and rice, and Guinness beef stew.

I like making things like this in batches big enough to share with neighbors and family who live nearby. Why spend eight hours cooking something for just one or two servings? A neighbor came by to help me shovel the driveway today, and I paid him back in containers of soup, stew, and chili.

Katie wrote:Why spend eight hours cooking something for just one or two servings? A neighbor came by to help me shovel the driveway today, and I paid him back in containers of soup, stew, and chili.

Yeah, that's why you may want to someday attend the small household exchange.

I like how you treat your neighbors!

Regards,
Cathy2

Katie wrote: A neighbor came by to help me shovel the driveway today, and I paid him back in containers of soup, stew, and chili.

You are an awesome neighbor. I've been snowblowing my entire block for 2 years, and my running total of repayment is 6 oatmeal cookies and a Corona.

I do have good neighbors.

Yesterday, after my driveway was finished, with the help of a neighbor, I went down the street to help clear an older neighbor's driveway. I knew hers was bad because the neighbor who came to help me with mine said "Holy mackerel!" when he saw it. I knew she had to drive over the snow to leave for work early in the morning and would probably feel like crying (I know I would) when she came home and saw how much snow the village plow had piled up at the end of her driveway, because she's had some health problems and it would just physically be too much for her. I was going to text her at work to invite her to park in my driveway when she came home, but then we decided, three of us, to do what we could to get her into hers.

She just dropped off a bag from Trader Joe's with cheese, crackers, salami, strawberries, and wine! I'm feeling much better now about being stuck in the house for the next two and a half days.

Sorry your neighbors aren't repaying your efforts, seebee. If we were neighbors, I'd ask to borrow your snowblower when you were done with it and pay you back in soups, stews, and chili!

Lentejas a al Riojana: http://www.rtve.es/television/20151117/ ... 4020.shtml

Add hacked up pork ribs...like mi suegra.