1. Chickpea carrot, chickpeas, and swede soup along with herby olives
Swede, together with celeriac – is often regarded as the least-known root vegetable in winter. While pumpkin (and soup made from pumpkin) gets all the attention, there’s a lot to be said about the earthy sweetness that comes from the colored ombre of the vegetable. There is even more about the soup’s solid and chunky texture, which includes chickpeas, diced carrots, and chickpeas. Rose harissa and cumin give it depth, while a tapenade-like sauce of green olives, more sour herbs, and apple cider vinegar provides a balance. Plus, it’s vegan.
2. Porchetta
It’s certainly not vegan, but it’s tasty. It’s not difficult to grasp the attraction of this rolled roast, in which the pork belly’s flesh is soft and sweet, and the skin – the skin! It is swollen with a crisp crunchiness, which is best captured with ASMR-sensitive microphones and uploaded to YouTube. This is a recipe for a long game, and the meat must be packed, rolled, and chilled for up to two days in order to marinate the flesh and dry the skin. Therefore, you should make it the Friday night dinner project to get the Sunday lunch results.
3. Seafood cooked in saffron and Cascabel chili soup
While fresh seafood is an all-year-round event in Australia, the frigid waters of winter provide the best circumstances to cook the fruits of the mer. Therefore, seafood stew it is. It’s a steaming bowl filled with mussels, prawns, and white fish cooked in a broth that evokes brodetto or bouillabaisse and is spiced with the fruity flavor of the dried chili of cascabel (it can be purchased from some specialty stores, although you could substitute it for the more popular Guajillo chili). It is suggested to use a single slice of sourdough for each person, but like the best bread that is served alongside soupy dishes, there is always more.
4. Sardine curry made with chili and ginger
Fresh seafood isn’t always a good option due to the cost or availability, and I cannot gush about the benefits of sardines in tins. They’re affordable, and the tedious filleting process has been completed, and you’ve picked sardines that are cooked in oil (not in springwater, which is a heathen). The oil from fish serves dual duty and acts as a flavor boost. Ottolenghi simmers the starting spices, including spices like cinnamon and mustard, in the oil before adding a range of spices: onions, ginger, garlic, onion, Garam masala, and turmeric. Sardines are added to the curry of tomato and coconut before the entire dish is smoked with freshly squeezed lime. Glorious.
5. Congee containing the garlicky choi sum as well as turmeric oil
Think of this as a more extreme take on congee. Turmeric! Olive oil! Maple syrup! You won’t find any of these in traditional renditions of the dish; however, this soup made of silky rice can be a backdrop for winter-friendly taste. It’s equally good for breakfast as it is to be enjoyed for dinner.
6. The butternut pumpkin is polenta, and the oil of rosemary and chili
A pumpkin with polenta is an amazing exercise in color blocking. Smooth, orange pumpkin with more smooth polenta? Add a double dose of cheese (cream cheese or parmesan), and winter comfort is accomplished.
7. Roast parsnips and pears with pesto made of watercress and endives
“When the sun’s not out, I’m not that brilliant at eating fruit,” Ottolenghi claims. The solution, therefore, is to take four pears (he advises conference pears; however, in Australia, replace them with beurre bosc) as well as some baby parsnips and roast them in chipotle and maple syrup to make a spicy, sweet, and sticky dessert.
8. Apple with pear Eve’s pudding and vanilla cream
There’s much to like about a pudding. It’s not an actual cake, nor is it as much of a pie, but there’s the cloud-like cake batter of the former, and it has the “see what’s inside” appeal of the latter. With fillings of pears and apples, this is a winter fruit double-act. The cool contrast of vanilla cream is a wonderful final touch.
9. Lemon bay leaf, olive oil cake
It’s the bundt that is butter-free! The combination of ricotta and olive oil produces an unbeatable cake with “the supplest crumb,” Ottolenghi claims, and four lemons worth of zest and a collection with fresh leaves of the bay will inundate your kitchen with a heavenly scent.
10. Raise and Rum cake with Rum caramel frosting
It’s the bubbly bundt! Begin this recipe a day before in order to allow the raisins time to absorb that dark liquor. This is the result: a delicious buttery cake adorned by a mixture of drunken fruits and finished with the most luxurious rum caramel glaze. It will be a fight to get another slice.
