When it comes to food, it is all too easy to feel uninspired at this time of year. When it's cold and dark, a good, simple supper can turn even the worst of days around and bring metaphoric light and warmth into your home. We also know the chore of finding a good recipe can be a little frazzling. So, we've outsourced the problem, by asking some of our favourite chefs and restaurants to share their go-to weeknight suppers that are no fuss but full of flavour. From Petersham Nurseries risotto and winter salad, to Will Bowlby's from Kricket's chicken curry and Chet Sharma's from Bibi's Langarwal dal, your day might disappoint you, but these recipes certainly won't.
MAY WE SUGGEST: Our favourite dinner ideas for two
Risotto with tema artichokes and parmesan
A dish for days when the rain beats down on the greenhouses and the wind is whistling outside. We like to use the purplish Tema artichokes, which have a superior flavour to globe artichokes, but Spinosa artichokes would work just as well.
Serves 6
Ingredients
- 1 tema artichoke per person 1 lemon, cut into quarters
- 50g shallots, finely chopped 50g celery, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons olive oil 130g unsalted butter 500g carnaroli rice
- 350ml white wine
- 1.5 litres white chicken or vegetable stock (hot)
- 150g parmesan, plus extra to serve salt and black pepper
Method
- Start by preparing the artichokes. Remove the outer leaves until you see the tender pale leaves underneath.
- Slice off the top of the artichoke using a serrated knife and then use a small spoon to scoop out the hairy choke. Use a paring knife to trim and peel the stalk and the base of the artichoke until you are left with the heart. Rub with the lemon while you prepare the rest. Slice the artichoke hearts as thinly as you can.
- In a large, heavy-based pan, cook the shallots and celery with the olive oil and half the butter over a low– medium heat until very soft, being careful not to allow them to colour. This should take about 10–15 minutes.
- Add the rice and cook gently for 5 minutes. Add the wine and cook for a further 5–10 minutes. Next, begin to add the stock, a ladleful at a time, stirring constantly.
- Halfway through adding the stock, add the artichokes and then the Parmesan a handful at a timeContinue adding the stock by the ladleful until the rice is al dente. Beat in the remaining butter and season to taste. Serve with a sprinkling of Parmesan.
This recipe is extracted for the Petersham Nurseries Book by the Boglione family (£65), out now.
petershamnurseries.com
Winter salad with romanesco broccoli, pumpkin, radicchio, fennel and chilli
Part of the brassica family that includes cabbage and broccoli, Romanesco is also known as Roman cauliflower and its lime green, spiralling flower heads add zing and crunch to any salad. This recipe pairs it with rich red radicchio and golden pumpkin for a dish that captures the glory of winter.
Serves 4–6
Ingredients
- 200ml white wine vinegar
- 200ml water
- 100g caster sugar
- ¼ pumpkin of your choice (about 200g), skin on, finely shaved on a mandoline
- 1 head of romanesco broccoli, cut into florets
- 1 head of fennel, finely sliced
- 1 head of radicchio, leaves separated (we like to use a mixture of varieties)
- 10 fennel tops and 25 leaves pennywort, to garnish
- olive oil
- salt and black pepper
For the dressing
- 100ml olive oil
- 50ml red wine vinegar
- 1 red chilli, finely chopped
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C.
- In a small pan, combine the vinegar, water and sugar and bring to the boil. Place the pumpkin in a small bowl and pour over the pickling liquid.
- Cover and leave to cool to room temperature.
Roast the Romanesco, fennel and half of the radicchio leaves in a baking tray with a little olive oil, salt and pepper for about 15 minutes, or until tender and slightly charred. - In a large bowl, mix together the charred vegetables with the remaining fresh radicchio leaves and the pickled pumpkin.
- Combine the olive oil, vinegar and chilli and pour over the vegetables. Check the seasoning before serving.
This recipe is extracted for the Petersham Nurseries Book by the Boglione family (£65), out now.
petershamnurseries.com
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Old Delhi chicken curry
"The sauce that forms the base of this dish is derived from the classic Delhi chicken (or, as we know it, butter chicken) recipe, originally created by Moti Mahal restaurant in Old Delhi. It should be smooth, creamy, slightly spicy and flecked with the green of dried fenugreek leaves. When I first tried it in Delhi it reminded me of a spicy version of Heinz cream of tomato soup from a can (in a good way!), so don’t be alarmed if you get the same flavour at the end” Will Bowlby
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 8 boneless, skinless, free-range chicken thighs - cut into 2.5cm (1 inch) pieces
- A handful of micro coriander cress – optional, for garnishing
- 1 thumb-size piece of fresh ginger root – sliced into very fine strips
For the marinade:
- 300g (10 1/2 oz/1 1/4 cups) Greek yogurt
- 3 tablespoons mustard oil
- 2 tablespoons ginger and garlic paste
- 1 tablespoon ground turmeric
- 1 tablespoon Kashmiri red chilli powder
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
For the sauce:
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 4 green cardamom pods
- 2 black cardamom pods
- 4 cloves
- 2 fresh Indian bay leaves
- 4 tablespoons ginger and garlic paste
- 2 tablespoons red Kashmiri red chilli powder
- 2 green chillies, split down the middle
- 1kg (2 lb 3 oz) plum tomatoes - puréed
- 200 ml (7 fl oz/scant 1 cup) double (heavy) cream - plus extra to serve
- 250g (9 oz/1 cup) unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- a handful of dried fenugreek leaves
- caster sugar - to taste
- sea salt - to taste
Method
- First make the marinade. To hang the yogurt, turn it out of its packaging straight into a muslin (cheesecloth), tie the ends and hang it over a dish for one hour. Make sure the yogurt isn’t stirred or disturbed, otherwise you will lose it through the muslin.
- Put the yogurt in a bowl, add the marinade ingredients and stir together. Add the chicken to the bowl and coat in the marinade. Cover and leave in the refrigerator for 12 hours, or overnight.
- When ready to make the sauce, heat the oil in a saucepan over a medium heat, add the whole spices and allow them to infuse the oil for 30 seconds or so before adding the ginger and garlic paste, chilli powder and green chillies.
- Cook for a couple of minutes, then turn the heat down to medium-low, add the tomatoes, then cover and cook for about 30 minutes until the sauce has reduced by one-third and the oil has separated from the tomatoes.
- Remove the whole spices, then add the cream, butter, garam masala and
fenugreek leaves. - Season to taste with sugar and salt. Let the sauce simmer as you cook the chicken.
- Sear the marinated thighs in a hot pan for about 15 minutes until just cooked through, then add them to the sauce. Mix and adjust the seasoning if required.
- Just before serving, drizzle with some cream and top with fresh coriander and ginger.
This recipe is extracted for the Petersham Nurseries Book by the Boglione family (£65), out now.
Halibut fricassée
For the egg and lemon emulsion
- 50ml chicken stock
- 50ml lemon juice
- 1 lemon, zested
- Salt & pepper
- 150g cold butter, diced
- 1 egg yolk
For the fish
- Halibut (1 portion 150-200g), butterflied and at room temperature ready to cook. Alternatively, White Grouper, turbot or any white UK fish can be used
- Knob of butter
- Fennel tops for garnish
For the fricassée
- ½ romaine lettuce, cut in 0.5cm slices
- 50g parsley, chopped
- 50g chervil, chopped
- 50g dill, chopped
- 50g fennel tops, chopped
- 50g basil, chopped
- 50g mint, chopped
- Salt & pepper
Method
- Bring the stock, juice and zest to the boil and season with salt and pepper. Whilst boiling add the diced butter and blend until the butter is fully combined in the stock. Add the egg yolk, blend again and keep the emulsion warm.
- Caramelise the fish on one side in a pan with a knob of butter for 2.5 minutes (4 minutes if fish at fridge temperature). Place in the pre-heated oven at 170C for a further 2 minutes at (3 minutes if fish at fridge temperature). There is no need to turn the fish. It is perfectly cooked when the core temperature is 50C.
- Add the egg and lemon emulsion to a medium size pan and bring to the boil. Turn the heat off and add all the fricassée ingredients and stir until soft. Season to your taste.
- Serve the fish on top of the fricassée and sprinkle with fennel tops.
Tomato & chicken hot pot
Serves 4
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 30-40 minutes
Ingredients:
- 4 skin-on, boneless chicken thighs
- 1tbsp coriander seeds
- 1tbsp fennel seeds
- 1tsp black peppercorns
- 1tbsp oil
- 1tbsp butter
- 2 large onions, peeled and sliced
- 4 cloves of garlic, sliced
- 150ml white wine
- 4 large buffalo tomatoes
- 250g cherry tomatoes
- 1 bulb of fennel, cut into quarters
- 2 sprigs rosemary
- 2 sprigs thyme
Method
- Pre-heat oven to 200ºC (180ºC Fan). In a dry frying pan over high heat, toast the coriander seeds, fennel seeds and peppercorns until aromatic. Remove, and grind into a coarse powder using a pestle and mortar.
- In the same pan over medium heat, add a splash of oil and fry the chicken on all sides until golden. Remove chicken from pan.
- Add a knob of butter until melted, then and the onion and garlic and cook until they start to caramelise, about five minutes. Once they begin to caramelise, add your ground spice mix and cook for 30 seconds. Add your wine, and allow it to bubble and reduce.
- Meanwhile, add your buffalo tomatoes to a blender, and blend until liquid consistency.
- Once your wine has reduced, add your blended buffalo tomatoes to the pan, and allow to cook slowly until the excess water has been cooked out, about five to ten minutes.
- Transfer the entire mixture back to the blender, and blitz on high speed for about one minute.
- In a heavy-bottomed pan, add your chicken thighs and tomato sauce, and scatter over the cherry tomatoes and fennel evenly on top.
- In a heavy based pan with a lid, add chicken thighs, tomato sauce, scatter your cherry tomatoes and fennel evenly on top. Submerge your thyme and rosemary into the sauce.
- Pop the lid on the and cook in the centre of the oven for 45 minutes. Remove lid for the remaining 10 minutes to help caramelise the chicken skin.
- Serve with buttered, toasted sourdough.
Langarwali dal
Langar is food served, for free, to any travellers or worshipers who visit a Sikh temple. The name ‘Langarwali dal’ – literally any dal served in the langar dining room – has come to mean a hearty dark brown dal that is slightly lighter in flavour than the more well-known ‘dal makhani’ so often seen in North Indian restaurants. For the best dal I always recommend soaking the lentils overnight before cooking, I find they take up more flavour when being cooked the next day.
Ingredients
Boiling mix:
- 1 ½ cups sabut urad dal (whole black dal)
- ½ cup chana dal (split chickpea / Bengal gram)
- 4- 4½ cups water (to pressure cook)
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- ½ tsp deggi mirch (red chilli powder)
- ½ inch ginger, chopped
- 2 x Indian bay leaves
Tempering:
- 4 tbsp ghee (or vegetable oil)
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds, coarsely ground
- 1 inch ginger, crushed
- 5-6 garlic cloves, crushed
- 3 bombay onions, diced
- ¼ tsp turmeric powder
- 2 tsp deggi mirch (red chilli powder)
- ½ cup yoghurt, whisked (optional)
- 1 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped
- Salt, to taste
To garnish:
- Chopped coriander
- 1 tbsp butter (optional)
Method
- Wash and soak the lentils overnight.
- Add the soaked lentils and the rest of the boiling mix to a pressure cooker. Seal on high and cook for 30 minutes, or until the lentils are fully cooked and starting to break down. If cooking without a pressure cooker, boil over a low simmer for around two hours. Add more water if required.
- Bring the ghee to a high heat – it should just begin to smoke – and add the cumin and garlic. Cook until the garlic reaches a light golden colour, and quickly add the diced onions.
- Sweat the onions until they are translucent and just starting to take on some colour. Add the remaining tempering ingredients, leaving the yoghurt as the last item, if using. Cook out the tempering until the fat separates from the ingredients.
- Add the lentils to the tempering mix and then leave to simmer for a further 20-30 minutes, whisking from time to time to help the lentils break down and become creamy.
- Add and adjust the seasoning as required.
- Serve in a large bowl, garnished with the coriander and fresh butter.
Spaghetti with almond cream, fresh crab, chilli and marjoram
Serves 2
Ingredients
- 250g dried spaghetti
- 100g whole almonds soaked in 300ml full cream milk
- Fresh white crab, picked through
- Brown crab meat
- 2 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
- A handful of fresh marjoram leaves
- Juice of a lemon
- Sea salt and extra virgin olive oil for cooking
Method
- Bring the milk and almonds to the boil in a saucepan, cook for 5 minutes and then transfer to a blender and blitz to a smooth sauce consistency. Season and reserve.
- Place a large pan of salted water over a high heat and bring to a boil. Plunge in the pasta and cook as per the packet instructions.
- In a large sauté pan add a lug of oil and gently heat. Add the chilli and fry lightly to soften. Now pour in the almond sauce and stir in the brown and white crab meat. Squeeze in some lemon juice and check the seasoning.
- When the pasta is cooked, transfer to the almond sauce, drizzle in some olive oil and add a ladle of the pasta water.
- Stir the pasta through with some tongs or toss through- ensuring the pasta and sauce are combined. If the sauce is too thick add more pasta water and continue to stir or toss through.
- Transfer the pasta into warmed bowls (doing this with tongs gives a neat presentation) and then sprinkle over the marjoram and serve immediately.
MAY WE SUGGEST: Easy weeknight dinner ideas
