Never afraid to take one for the team, Vanessa Fowler puts four comfort food recipes to the test, and finds out why we love to indulge during the colder months.
Comfort food: rich stews, hearty soups and sizzling roasts.
Winter is the season where we ditch the salads in favour of foods which warm us up from the inside out.
Of course, we often find that along with the comfort food comes a few extra kilos.
But generally, it’s a small price to pay to enjoy the gastronomic delights that come with the annual drop in temperature.
But is it simply the colder weather that drives our need for calorie-rich, warming foods? Or is there a little more to our need?
North Shore psychologist and author Victoria Kasunic says all cravings are “real”, but they don’t necessarily mean we need the food we crave.
“Cravings are associated with a particular part of the brain that creates that ‘have to have it’ sensation. Comfort food craving may be partially about trying to keep our bodies warm - comfort foods tend to be warm and substantial,” Victoria says.
“There’s not a lot of scientific evidence that it’s biological - cravings tend to be more psychological in nature. We have pleasant memories attached to eating a particular food, and it’s this memory that seems to trigger our craving for it.”
But US magazine, Psychology Today, disagrees. It argues that we seek comfort food more in winter because we’re biologically programmed to add extra fat to our bodies to help us cope with the cold.
“Squirrels do it. So do bears, groundhogs, and other warm-blooded animals,” the magazine notes.
“Eating is not bad, it’s just what your mammalian brain is telling you to do in order to manage the cold. From your body’s perspective, it is totally adaptive.”
But evolution aside, while some comfort foods are individual - something our mother made us, for example - others are are ruled by universal emotions.
Chicken soup is a classic illness comfort food, while the self-help book by author Greg Behrendt, It’s Called A Break Up Because It’s Broken, has ice cream on the cover, as it’s associated with nursing a broken heart.
Like our feelings, we also like to share comfort food with friends and family; cooking up a comforting feast around the dinner table and in doing so, feeding the need to nurture both ourselves and others.
Yet packed away in that family feast is often a winter meal full of calories.
“I think it’s important to keep exercising through winter to keep connection and body awareness, and to look at healthy options like soups and stews, which can be just as healthy as salads yet give you that sensation of warmth,” Victoria says.
Recipe 1: Jean-Michel Gerst’s chicken in riesling sauce
Chicken in riesling sauce, from his book Latitude 36.50, epitomises rich, slow-cooked winter fare, and is so delicious it could, and should be, eaten daily.
Ingredients:
1 x 1.5kg free-range chicken
Salt and pepper
100g flour
150g butter
1 brown onion, thinly sliced
4 spring onions, thinly sliced
750ml riesling
3 bay leaves
300ml thickened cream
1 teaspoon thyme, chopped
400g button mushrooms, quartered
Knob of butter
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
Method:
Cut the chicken into eight portions, season and roll them in the flour.
Heat the butter in a casserole dish, then brown the chicken pieces, being careful not to burn the flour. Add the onion and shallots, stir for two minutes, then add the riesling and bay leaves.
Cover and simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until the chicken is cooked. Remove the chicken pieces from the pot. Then add the cream and the thyme to the pot and reduce until the sauce thickens.
In another pan, saute the mushrooms with a knob of butter. To serve, place the chicken on a dish, cover with the sauce, top with the mushrooms and sprinkle with some freshly chopped parsley.
Serve with noodles and a green salad. Serves 4.
Latitude 36.50 is available from June, $40. W: newhollandpublishers.com
Recipe 2: Kathryn Hawkins cock-a-leekie cheesy pie
Cock-a-leekie cheesy pie, from Kathryn Hawkins’ book Comfort Pie, was a big hit, even with a four-year-old who is a very fussy eater!
Ingredients:
50g butter
1 large leek, trimmed and shredded
25g plain (all purpose) flour
300ml whole milk
150g mature cheddar cheese, grated
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
300g cooked chicken meat, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 quantity double cheese pastry
1 egg, beaten, to glaze
Method:
Melt half the butter in a frying pan until bubbling, then stir fry the leeks for 5 mins until just softened. Set aside to cool.
Meanwhile, melt the remaining butter in a saucepan, add the flour and cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat and gradually stir in the milk.
Return to the heat and cook, stirring, until it boils, then simmer for 2 mins. Remove from the heat, stir in the cheese, season to taste, lay a piece of buttered greaseproof paper on the sauce and set aside to cool.
To make the pie, preheat the oven to 200C, 180C fan oven, 400F, gas 6.
Put the chicken in a bowl and mix in the cold leek and sauce. Season as necessary and then spoon into a 20cm round pie dish with a rim, 4cm deep.
Roll out the pastry thinly on a lightly floured surface to form an approximately 22cm circle. Cut the edges off the pastry to neaten and use these pieces to line the edge of the pie dish, securing them with water.
Cut the remaining pastry into 12-14 strips. Arrange the strips gently on top of the filling in a diagonal criss-cross pattern - six or seven one way and the remaining in the other direction - then interlace the strips. Once in place, secure them on to the pastry edge with beaten egg and trim the edge to neaten.
Put the pie on a baking tray, brush with egg and bake for 25 mins. Reduce the temperature to 180C, 160C fan oven, 350F, gas 4 and cook for a further 20-25 mins until golden and hot. Serve immediately. Serves 4-6.
Comfort Pie by Kathryn Hawkins, $29.99. W: newhollandpublishers.com
Recipe 3: Merle Parrish’s lemon delicious
What’s a rich winter meal without a warm pudding afterwards? Try this old favourite, lemon delicious, from emMerle’s Kitchen. Surprisingly easy to make and delicious with cream or ice cream./em
Ingredients:
3 eggs, separated
1/2 cup white sugar
30g butter, melted
1 cup milk
1/2 cup self-raising flour
1/3 cup lemon juice
1 tsp finely grated lemon rind
1/2 cup white sugar, extra
Icing sugar to dust
Method:
Preheat the oven to moderate (170C). Grease a 6-cup capacity ovenproof dish. Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until thick and creamy, then beat in the butter, milk, flour, juice and rind.
Using clean beaters, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Add the extra sugar a little at a time, beating constantly until thick and glossy. Fold into the lemon mixture.
Spoon into the dish and stand in a large baking dish. Pour in enough cold water to come halfway up the side of the dish.
Bake for 50-60 minutes, until risen and golden brown. Dust lightly with icing sugar, and serve immediately. Serves 4-6.
Merle’s Kitchen by Merle Parrish. Copyright Merle Parrish 2012. Reprinted by permission of Random House Australia. All Rights Reserved. RRP $39.95 by Ebury Press. Available from bookstores and online retailers. W: randomhouse.com.au