Winter Warmer Recipe
Around 4pm every Monday evening, my thoughts always turn to the same
subject: food. It’s not that we don’t eat on other nights,
just that Monday is one night when we have to be really organised, as hubby has
to be out before 6pm – he’s a volunteer fire fighter and Monday night is training night. As this can mean quite a bit of physical
exercise, outdoor work, often with vast quantities of freezing cold water
involved, come Monday night I’m looking for a meal that ticks several
boxes. It has to be relatively straightforward
and preferably child friendly, to save having to make something different for
the kids. It has to provide lots of
energy for Mr. Fireman, without sitting too heavily in his stomach during
training and, perhaps most significantly, it has to be really warming, to help
him withstand the cold while he’s out training on a cold, winter’s night. If he’s lucky and there are some leftovers,
it might even make a useful supper dish to warm him up again once he gets
home!
As I’m semi-vegetarian (I still eat fish), I used to think that I was somewhat
more limited than our meat-eating friends when it comes to stews. However, since discovering Quorn, in its many
forms, this is no longer the case. With
so many more recipes opened up to me, I therefore have so many more filling and
warming recipe options to cook to keep hubby warm on a chilly winter evening on
a windswept west coast island. It’s one
of these recipes that I have chosen to share with you here.
·
1 tbsp olive oil
·
1 onion, sliced
·
4 garlic cloves, sliced
·
700ml hot vegetable stock
·
1 large potato, finely grated
·
½ - 1 tbsp dried thyme
·
2 tsp dried rosemary
·
300g pack Quorn chicken-style pieces
·
3 carrots, halved lengthways and cut into chunks
·
2 parsnips, halved lengthways and cut into chunks
·
1 leek, well washed and thickly sliced
·
Mashed potato/ baby potatoes/ rice/ couscous, to serve
(optional)
Serves
4
Utensils needed
1. Heat the oil in a large pan – one which has a
lid (you’ll need this later).
2. Meanwhile, prepare the onion and garlic. We like quite chunky onion, so that it has a
bit of a bite to it but, if you prefer, the onion can be finely chopped. Likewise, the garlic can be chopped or
crushed – makes little difference to the end result. 
3. Fry the onion and the garlic for a few
minutes, until soft. I tend to leave it
until the onion is starting to brown, but try to avoid letting the garlic
brown, as it seems to be more inclined to burn than onion.
4. While the onion and garlic are frying,
prepare your stock and potato. I
obviously use vegetable stock, but chicken would work equally well, I’m
sure. I have grated the potato here, but
if you prefer a chunkier stew, it can be cut into pieces instead. It’s going to be boiling for quite a while
later, so even larger pieces should still be thoroughly cooked.
5. When you’re happy with the onion and garlic,
pour in the stock. Beware of hissing
stock as it hits the base of the pot!
Stir in the potato and the herbs.
I used dried herbs, as it was freezing cold and pouring with rain and I
had no intention of going outside to pick any fresh ones, but it’s equally, if
not more, tasty using fresh herbs. Adjust
the herb amounts according to the intensity of flavour you prefer. 
6. Add the Quorn chicken-style pieces and bring
to the boil. Unless you have prepared
the rest of your vegetables beforehand, bring to the boil quite slowly to give
yourself time to chop everything.
8. Cover the pan and leave to simmer over a low
heat, stirring occasionally, until all of the vegetables are as tender as you
like them. The original recipe suggested
40 – 45 minutes, but it was trying to cook real chicken – if you don’t want
very mushy vegetables, you probably wouldn’t want to leave this particular
version simmering for quite so long. Once
it has been simmering for a while, check for seasoning. I chose not to add any extra salt, as we’re
trying to cut down in sympathy with my Dad, who was recently diagnosed with
diabetes, so has to watch his diet very carefully. However, I did add copious quantities of
black pepper – no restrictions there!
This stew is filling enough to eat on its own, especially if you don’t add too much stock like I did! We have tried it with various accompaniments, such as couscous or boiled potatoes. Any extra couscous can also be stirred through the stew and reheated with it the next day, if there are any leftovers.
On the Monday night in question,
we ate the stew on its own, so Mr. Fireman wasn’t going out on too full a
stomach. He, of course, polished his off
easily, but I was struggling to finish mine, delicious though it was. I persevered though! There was plenty left over to give us another
meal the next night, this time with a couple of boiled potatoes.
On both nights, this winter
warmer most definitely did its job, as it cooked, while we were eating and long
afterwards, banishing all thoughts of the wintry landscape outside the window,
which we could admire from our cosy kitchen, safe in the knowledge that our
piping hot, tasty winter (Quorn) chicken stew was there to defend us against
the elements.
This post is an entry
into The Co-operative Electrical winter warmer
recipe competition, which can be found at:
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