Favourite winter recipes

I like cooking in the winter because Im lazy - as crawlie says, Im a typical throw it in a pan and bung it in the oven type person. One of my favourites is Nigella Lawson's Butterflied Chicken with Rosemary and Lemon which is really simple and easy to make.

INGREDIENTS
1 butterflied chicken (approx. 3 1/2 to 4 lbs)
3 long sprigs fresh rosemary
Juice of 1 lemon, with more lemons to serve
1 red onion
6 tablespoons olive oil
Maldon or other sea salt
Sambal oelek if you want a spicier bird

You can click the link to get the actual details but basically you throw all the ingredients into a zip top freezer bag, shake it around good let it marinate and then bake it until the skin is crispy and the chicken is done. Sure you could also make some fancy sides or you can roast some vegetables on the side, the oven's on anyway.

What I really like about this recipe is that
1. it easily cuts down - you can easily do this with half a chicken and probably chicken pieces as long as the skin is still on.
2. it freezes really easily too - i always make multiple bags/batches of this dish. I'll marinate two bags with half a chicken each: one for cooking right away and another for throwing in the freezer for a dinner down the road. Its a great standby to have in the house. All you have to do is defrost and throw it in the oven.

...and your carry-on luggage is ready.

Haha. Well, Id have to add the curry powder and then my names Blue Dave.

You could also do something very similar with some fillets of red mullet; garlic and rosemary is a classic taste combo, especially with lamb, but also works well with mullet. Chuck in a bit of lemon juice and olive oil, and you have a marinade. Mullet is very firm, so it roasts well without falling to bits. Cut 2 or 3 incisions into the skin side of the fillet to let the flavours get into the flesh a little, and also to make it look nice.

How does red mullet *smell* in the oven though? Some fish odours linger too long for my liking even after the kitchen's been scrubbed down. Well, I assume you meant a fish and not one of these.

I should add, the worst fish i ever made - in a pan - was sand dabs. I thought Id try something new. Horrible horrible and the smell lingered for days.

Red mullet smells like fish. Cover it loosely with foil if you don't want it splattering your oven, but to be very honest, cooking stuff means that stuff smells like stuff.

Cooking whole fish generally creates more "smell" than fillets.

Nah I dont mind it smelling like that stuff, not even for a while after. But the dabs smelled up my flat for a week. And it was horrible, like being stuck in a clown car with no windows and a lot of creepy clown smells.

Clowns smell like fish? The things I learn.

Another good winter one is a big pot of chili. Even though the chili cook-off in in Munich is in summer, winter is a great time to eat chili. Easy to make a big portion, keeps well, freezes well, etc etc.

i cooked the maroccan lamb dish from jamie oliver's Jamie's kitchen this weekend. very yummy and good for the winter.