Snow! It’s winter at last. That would make hearty stews
and chunky soups
the obvious choice. And it’s not
always wrong, or boring, to take the obvious choice. Often, with food at at least, the obvious is obvious on
account of being simply right and appropriate. Don’t call it ‘obvious’, call it ‘seasonal’ and not only
does it not read as wrong and boring, it’s suddenly both fashionable and
worthy.
So yes, by all means,
fill your casserole with big lumps of meat, and leave to cook long and slow in
a low oven while you go out and build a snowman, or simply snuggle up in front
of a blazing fire (or the TV) with a bottle of something rich and red.
But when it really
snows, sometimes it’s a question of conjuring something filling and
heartwarming out of what you have in the larder. After all, you may very well wake up to a winter wonderland
without a kilo of either pork
belly or oxtail
in your fridge, the cheeks
of neither ox
or pig,
no shanks of lamb or
pork;
and if you are actually snowed in – or simply don’t care to venture out into
the teeth of the blizzard - no means of getting any.
Tinned pulses are
something I would always hope to have in my larder – at least one, preferably
all, of chickpeas, cannellini, borlotti
and butter beans, any of which can supply the protein basis of a hearty winter
meal. Tinned tomatoes too, of
course, are a constant staple.
This time of year the chances are I’ll also have a parsnip or two and
some carrots, and of course a bag of potatoes and a few onions. As long as you have these few items and
some tasty stock (in your fridge, freezer or out of a tub of Marigold instant
veg stock, another basic larder staple I’d never wish to be out of) you have
yourself dinner.
The other day, finding
myself with a single parsnip and carrot, and just a few potatoes in the larder,
half a tin of chopped tomatoes and half a bag of spinach in the fridge I
decided to use them all up to make a delicious and heartwarming wintery version
of chickpea and spinach stew, served alongside a layered potato, parsnip and
carrot bake – a kind of winter veg gratin
or boulangere,
I guess.
The chickpea stew is a
not particularly adapted version of the Spanish tapas classic garbanzos
con espinacas, a brilliantly versatile dish that’s equally suited to being
a side dish or the main feature of a meal, can be served hot or cold, winter or
summer alike – and perhaps the best thing about it is it’s so quick and easy to
make. Just fry some onion with
garlic and spices add the chickpeas, a little stock, stir in a big bunch of
spinach at the end and Bob’s your Mum’s brother. Or you can add a few other bits and pieces as I did. On this occasion, a few mushrooms and
that half tin of chopped tomatoes.
You could easily add a little shredded bacon if you wanted to, or even
better, chorizo
and/or morcilla (or good old British black pudding). If you don't have chickpeas, any of the other regular beans will make a perfectly adequate substitute, but the slightly crunchy texture of the chickpea is best suited to this dish. Other, softer beans will lend a different, not necessarily inferior, character to it.
For the winter veg Boulangere
1 parsnip,
1 carrot
4 potatoes (floury ones like King Edwards or Maris piper)
1 onion
250ml stock (any stock you like, I prefer a strong flavoured stock like beef for this dish, but if you’re making it to go with the chickpea dish above, then the same, lighter, stock you’d use for that is just fine)
Garlic
Thyme
Finely slice the root veg, to no more than the thickness of a pound coin, thinner if you can - perhaps the thickness of a two pence piece. Slice the onion rather thicker. Most recipes then simply advise constructing the dish by layering all the components in your gratin dish raw, I have found that this is often unsatisfactory – the different components, cooking at different rates tend not to soften and combine as you’d wish. My trick is to put the sliced potatoes into a pan with the stock and bring them to the boil and straining of the stock. This does create a little more washing up and makes handling the hot potato a little trickier, but I find the finished result is worth it. I also quickly soften the onion in a frying pan, in a little olive oil, with some finely sliced garlic, thyme leaves and salt and pepper. Then I layer the gratin dish. Always start and finish with a layer of potato, what you do in between is up to you, but in this case I went potato, onion, parsnip and carrot together, onion, potato. Then pour over the hot stock, enough so it's just visible at the level of the top potato layer - don't flood the dish.
For the Chickpea stew
(or Garbanzos con Espinacas if you prefer, and I think I do)
1 x 400g tin of
chickpeas (you can of course use dried, they are superior in texture and
flavour, but less convenient and it’s convenience that’s key here)
1 small onion (red for
aesthetic preference, but regular yellow is fine)
Garlic
Chilli
Spices (any or all of cumin,
coriander and fennel seeds, lightly crushed, a pinch of turmeric or saffron,
salt and pepper, obviously)
Half a dozen or so
chesnut mushrooms chunkily sliced or halved/quartered depending on size)
Half a tin of chopped
tomatoes (or two or three fresh tomatoes skinned, deseeded and chopped)
A couple of big
handfuls of young leaf spinach
250ml hot stock (ham,
chicken or veg)
Gently fry the onion
with the garlic, chilli and spices in a little olive oil till the onion is
softening, then add the mushrooms (and tomatoes if you’re using fresh ) and
cook for about another minute or two before adding the chickpeas and the stock,
cook together for about ten minutes, at a gentle simmer, preferably
covered. Immediately before you
are ready to eat, throw in the spinach and stir it through.
If you want to add
bacon or chorizo, do that right at the beginning. If I was going to add blood sausage, I’d do so at the same
stage as the mushrooms. If you’re
using dried chick peas you will obviously have had to soak and cook them first.
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