When cooler temperatures hit, sometimes all you want is something warm and tempting to eat. We’ve rounded up a dozen of our favorite sweater weather dishes, including beef stew, cheese enchiladas, niku udon and Jamaican curry chicken, for when you need a low-lift meal to warm you from top to toe.
1. Cheese Enchiladas
Ground cumin and ground red chile powder from dried chiles (not the chili powder blend you typically use to make a big pot of chili) are the secret to the layered earthiness of these delightfully gooey cheese enchiladas from Bryan Washington.
2. Sheet-Pan Chicken Tikka Thighs
In this easy-breezy sheet-pan version of chicken tikka from Zainab Shah, boneless chicken thighs are marinated in ginger, garlic and a mix of fragrant South Asian spices like red chile powder, cumin and garam masala, then broiled on a sheet pan with bell peppers and onions.
3. Turkey Chili
Hard to believe that the decade that gave us Hammer pants and oversize flannel also gave us this much-loved recipe from Pierre Franey, author of the “60 Minute Gourmet” column. First published in 1992, this 30-minute chili is a big reader favorite — scroll through the comments for clever tips and additions for making it your own.
4. Slow-Cooker Jalapeño Pulled Pork
Ali Slagle’s four-ingredient recipe for sticky, sweet and spicy pulled pork was inspired by carnitas, barbecue pulled pork and Vietnamese caramel pork. Letting the roast simmer for hours in a mixture of pickled jalapeño brine and fish sauce yields a fall-apart tangle of meat that’s wildly good on soft rolls or over piles of rice.
5. Baked Spanakopita Pasta With Greens and Feta
A sunnier twist on the typical tomato- and meat-based baked pasta, this one from Ali Slagle is just as belly-filling and comforting, but light and bright with feta, spinach, herbs and scallions.
6. Niku Udon (Japanese Beef Noodle Soup)
From J. Kenji López-Alt, here’s a soup for those of you who think soup isn’t filling enough: Thinly shaved beef is cooked with onions in a sweet-savory dashi broth, then served over chewy udon noodles. See? You’re full already.
7. Cabbage Parm
You’ve had chicken parm, eggplant parm, cauliflower parm and zucchini parm, but Hetty McKinnon’s cabbage variation might become your new favorite (and is quite possibly the easiest to make). Roasted cabbage — silken and sweet with charred edges — becomes the base for the parm treatment, while chunky croutons replace the shower of breadcrumbs.
8. Baked Barley Risotto With Mushrooms and Carrots
Making risotto is always a soothing culinary meditation, but when you’d rather sit on the couch, this baked barley and mushroom version from Kay Chun is a lovely hands-off alternative. Be sure to salt as you go — barley absorbs a lot of salt — and don’t be stingy with the Parmesan.
9. Sausage With Peppers and Onions
“A simple and soul-warming winter dish. Always a winner,” wrote one happy reader about this colorful and riffable dish from David Tanis. Serve it over creamy polenta or generously buttered noodles.
10. Lentil Tomato Soup
Everything you love about tomato soup, but made heartier and a smidge fancier by adding a can of lentils and a swirl of browned butter. Carolina Gelen’s smart trick of adding heavy cream to the butter browning process brings even more complexity.
11. Jamaican Curry Chicken and Potatoes
This not-too-spicy one-pot dish from Millie Peartree gets plenty of heat from a combination of mild Jamaican curry powder and a single Scotch bonnet pepper that’s punctured to gently release flavor into the stew. Slurp it by itself or over rice to soak up all of the tongue-tingling sauce.
12. Zibdiyit Gambari (Spicy Shrimp and Tomato Stew)
This zippy dish is made by mashing together garlic, dill and fresh jalapeños — the recipe calls for a mortar and pestle, but you can use a knife or a food processor — then cooking them in tomato sauce seasoned with cumin, caraway and allspice. Finally, raw shrimp are added for a few minutes at the tail-end of cooking for this vibrant change-of-pace stew that was adapted from Yasmin Khan’s “Zaitoun: Recipes From the Palestinian Kitchen.”
13. Old-Fashioned Beef Stew
Last, but certainly not least, is Molly O’Neill’s 30-year old beef stew recipe, which readers clamor for every year when the leaves begin to change from green to gold. Deeply comforting and endlessly adaptable, it’s a perfect end to frosty days spent with your cheeks flushed and dusted with snowflakes.
The post 13 Cozy Winter Dinners to Warm You Up appeared first on New York Times.
