2 Hearty Meals To Make For Winter
There is nothing that screams winter to me more than hearty meals, preferably slathered in gravy. Or cheese. Or chocolate.
I am no culinary wizard but since having my own house with a mahoosive kitchen I have tried my hand at more recipes this year than the whole of my life. Here are my two favourite hearty meals for winter, which just so happen to be so easy to make that I can do them.
*Soz if you're not a meat lover, these are veryyyyy meaty based.
Sausage & Bean Hotpot;
Ingredients (makes enough for 2)
- 2 thick cut sausages/4 thin cut ones thawed
- 1/2 an onion
- 1 can of baked beans
- olive oil
- 3 or 4 medium sized potatoes
- dab of butter
- bacon and cheese optional
Equipment
- frying pan or two
- casserole dish/glass dish
- saucepan
- wooden spoon
- tongs
- chopping knives
- foil
Method
- Pre heat your oven to 190°C.
- Make sure your sausages are fully thawed and then cut them with a pair of kitchen scissors into 3 or 4 chunky slices. Add a tiny bit of olive oil to a frying pan and fry them until they're golden brown.
- Whilst frying the sausages, cut your potatoes into halves and part boil them in a saucepan for about 5 minutes. You want them to have started cooking but still have a bit of resistance when you put a knife through them, not soft.
- Drain the potatoes and when the sausages are golden brown use the tongs to set them aside on a plate.
- Cut half an onion into long thin strips and fry in the frying pan until they start turning brown. The sausages should have left some fat in the frying pan so you shouldn't need to add any extra oil.
- When the onions are fried leave them in the pan and add the sausages back to it. Add a whole tin of baked beans (Heinz give off the most flavour from our experience) and heat it all until piping hot.
- Spoon the mixture into a casserole dish. Cut the part boiled potatoes into circles and layer it over the mixture so there's few gaps and dab a bit of butter on the top. This is where you can add grated cheese or bacon bits if you're that way inclined (we v much are).
- Cover the casserole dish with foil and cook for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes take the dish out, remove the foil and then put it back in the oven for another 10/15 minutes or until the cheese has melted/the potatoes are starting to crisp around the edges.
- Remove from the oven and spoon out into a bowl (it's a messy dish) and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with crusty buttery bread and voila!
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Beef Stew;
Ingredients (makes enough for 2)
- 450 grams of stewing beef
- 1/2 an onion
- 1 carrot
- 3 medium sized potatoes
- 1 tablespoon of plain flour
- quarter of a teaspoon of salt
- quarter of a teaspoon of black pepper
- 190ml of beef stock (1 cube of oxo beef stock and boiling water)
Equipment
- slow cooker (I have this one from Lakeland)
- chopping board
- sharp knife
- wooden spoon
- measuring jug
- kettle
Method
- Place beef in slow cooker.
- Spoon flour, salt and pepper into slow cooker and mix into beef with a wooden spoon.
- Chop potatoes, carrot and onion into chunky circles and add to slow cooker mixture.
- Boil kettle and add one beef stew stock cube to measuring jug. Add 190ml of boiling water to stock cube and stir until dissolved.
- Pour stock into slow cooker and cover with lid.
- Cook on low setting for 8-10 hours or on high setting for 6 hours and try not to lift the lid. If you do need to take the cover off add 25 minutes to your cooking time for each time it's lifted.
- Spoon and serve with peas, gravy or giant yorkshire pudding as preferred!
