Quote:
Originally Posted by SabrinaFair
My very very favorite cold-weather food is cottage pie--essentially, beef stew covered in mashed potatoes and cheese served in a bread bowl. I wouldn't exactly call it a "healthy" dish, but it'll warm ya to the bone. There's a restaurant here in Louisville, the Irish Rover, that is famous for their cottage pie. My own version isn't quite as good, but it's still good. Really, how can you go wrong with mashed potatoes included in a dish?
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You can't!
We make vegetarian shepherd's pie from time to time. I take a short cut by using frozen mixed veggies, and picking veggies we like. Basically, cook up an onion in a little butter, add some garlic and a bay leaf, add some flour to make a roux, cook a bit, add some veggie stock to thin it out, then add the frozen mixed veggies. Sometimes I'll throw in a fresh carrot and fresh celery and use a mirepoix as the starting base. Eventually you end up with cooked veggies covered in gravy, which you then place in a baking dish and cover with mashed potatoes. I like to cover the very top of the mashed potatoes in seasoned panko bread crumbs for a crispy top. You can also use this as filling for a veggie pot pie, another cold-weather favorite around these parts.
One potato-based cold-weather dish I haven't gotten around to making yet is colcannon. I want to get to market and pick up some kale. This recipe from the NYTimes sounded tasty:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/21/he...prod=permalink
One thing we've eaten a lot of in past winters are variations on gratins and variations on macaroni and cheese. One recipe I found combined the two in a recipe for using spaghetti squash with jalapeno cream, but I haven't tried it yet either:
Spaghetti Squash with Jalapeño Cream Recipe - Cheese - MyRecipes.com For some reason, I really enjoy making macaroni and cheese on a cold day. I love making the bechamel sauce. Sometimes, for depth of flavor and a bit of winter raciness, I'll add a bit of my favorite winter ale to the sauce--voila, Beeroni and Cheese.
I'll keep you posted, noodle and others, as we definitely enjoy our winter comfort food around these parts.