Winter is the time to put a little meat on your bones. Winter foods are designed to make use of lots of nonperishable food items, but they also serve a more important role: keeping you warm.
It makes sense: when it’s cold outside, people like to eat hot food. Winter recipes tend to be comforting and a bit heavy: perfect when there’s not much to do except curl up in front of the fire. Lots of fat, lots of carbs, and lots of flavor—the perfect recipe to stay warm in the wintertime.
Soups and stews, with their incredible ability to warm up even the most frozen of people, definitely feature heavily in winter cuisines around the world. But that’s not the only thing people enjoy in the winter, because the winter is also when the holidays and their associated feasts take place. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, New Years, and many other holidays take place during the winter months, and that means people need to celebrate. So this also a time of extravagance: it’s common to do large roasts for holidays, huge chunks of meat that symbolize prosperity and luxury. We’ve assembled some of our favorite meals to help you and your family keep the cold at bay this winter season. Read on!
One of the things that makes winter cuisine different from cuisine from the other seasons is that in many parts of the world, there are simply many fewer fresh vegetables available. There are ways to preserve them, for instance, root vegetables can be kept fresh in a root cellar for many months, and jams and canning is used to preserve fruits and vegetables when they’re at the peak of freshness. But there are also vegetables that grow in the winter.
Winter vegetables like cabbage, kale, brussels sprouts, onions and shallots, and many others actually grow during the winter and can be harvested at any time. Though these vegetables are a far cry from the summer’s bounty, they can be delicious in their own right. We’ve put together all of our coziest winter recipes for you to try. Read on!
Spicy cauliflower and potato salad recipe
This spicy Indian-style potato salad recipe is sure to warm you right up! It utilizes the winter vegetables of potatoes and cauliflower, meaning you can make it with fresh ingredients even during the darkest winter months. The in this cauliflower and potato salad recipe, cumin, curry, garlic, and coriander bring extra spice and flavor to this warming salad. Make sure you serve it room temperature: you don’t want anyone to get cold!
Flemish stoverij beef stew recipe
There’s nothing like a rich, hearty beef stew to warm you up even in the coldest winter months. Coming from the frigid land of Flanders in Northern Europe, where icy winter winds blow across frozen fields, they certainly need it. This is a relatively reserved and elegant stew, made of tender chunks of beef in a fine beer-based sauce. Serve it with mashed potatoes and other vegetables. Try this rich and tender Flemish “stoverij” beef stew recipe the next time you need to warm up!
Sweet corn soup with chili recipe
For your vegetarian friends, a beef stew simply won’t do. But never fear, sweet corn soup is here to save the day! This chili spiced sweet corn soup is like a chowder: rich and creamy with a pronounced sweetness from the sweet corn, all braced with potent chili. White wine refines it further, making this soup rich, warming, and filling. This sweet corn soup with chili recipe is perfect for a nice and cozy evening curled up with a good book!
Hot non alcoholic cranberry punch recipe
Obviously, the holidays are the perfect time to relax with some potent tipple and really enjoy the feeling. But for your teetotaling friends, you need to create another option. That’s where this delicious hot non alcoholic cranberry punch recipe comes in. The fresh cranberry flavor is bitter and bracing, which helps to keep things interesting for those who don’t partake. And if anyone changes their mind, a splash of brandy goes very well indeed.
Gluten free fruitcake recipe
Fruitcake may be one of the most maligned of wintertime recipes, but we promise this one is worth trying. Fruitcake was originally developed to have such a strong taste and aroma to block out the sometimes foul-smelling odors of the interior of a poorly ventilated house in the middle of winter—one that may have been shared with several farm animals. Enriched with raisins, cherries, candied orange peel, and various nuts, this gluten free fruitcake is a nugget of strong flavor and would certainly do that job, but let’s hope you don’t need it for that reason. Unlike many fruitcake recipes, this one is also non alcoholic. Try this fruitcake recipe next time your non-drinking friends visit!
