Eats | Comfort recipes

Eats | Comfort recipes

By Imogen Wallis

Eats | Comfort recipes

There's nothing better than curling up in your pyjamas after a great meal. Here are some of the team's tried and tested recipes: 

Breakfast

Wholemeal pancakes with caramelised apples

"Pancakes are surprisingly hassle free to make and flipping is always fun!" - Alice (MD/Co-Founder)

Serves four (prep time 10 minutes, cooking time 10 minutes)

(Makes about 8 pancakes)

Ingredients

  • 75g plain flour
  • 25g wholemeal flour
  • 250 ml semi-skimmed milk
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 Bramley apples

  • 50g butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp soft brown sugar 
  1. Put the flours, milk and eggs in a liquidizer and blitz for about 2 minutes.
  2. Peel and core apples, then slice thinly. Heat half the butter in a frying pan and add the cinnamon. Allow to bubble for a minute before adding sliced apples. Sprinkle over the sugar and carefully turn the apples over so that they are coated in the syrup. Turn the heat down and allow to cook gently. Keep an eye on them while you're cooking the pancakes and turn them over from time-to-time to allow them to cook evenly. 
  3. While the apples are happily cooking away, melt the rest of the butter in another frying pan and start frying the pancakes. Pile the pancakes on a plate until you have made them all. 
  4. Divide the apple mixture between the pancakes and roll up. Drizzle a little maple syrup over each one and voila! Enjoy. 

Recipe sourced from Tana Ramsay's Family Kitchen 

Lunch

Braised Miso Beef Ribs

"The addition of miso adds depth, richness and umami, which means you need less salt. Best of all, it's really easy - not the sort of recipe that requires quantities, just go by taste, and what you have to hand." - Phil (Co-Founder)

Serves two

Ingredients

  • 2 portions of Angus beef ribs (as big as you are hungry)
  • Fresh ginger
  • White peppercorns
  • 3-4 strips of dried tangerine peel (or fresh orange peel)
  • 1 onion
  • 3-4 carrots
  • Miso paste
  • Red wine
  • Rock sugar (or brown sugar)
  • Soy sauce
  • Spring onion and chilli to garnish
  • Steamed rice
  1. Soak beef ribs in cold water for an hour before cooking.
  2. Blanche ribs in pan of boiling water for 10 minutes, then drain.  
    Cover with fresh cold water, add a thumb of bashed ginger, a handful of white peppercorns, and dried peel of a tangerine. Bring to the boil and simmer for an hour. 
  3. In a separate casserole pot, brown some onions, carrots and a thumb of sliced ginger, add a tablespoon of miso and a cup of red wine. Place beef ribs in pot, and top up with cooking liquid (spices removed). 
  4. Season with teaspoon of rock sugar and soy to taste. Braise for another hour. Before serving, boil liquid down till thick. 
  5. Garnish with fresh spring onion and chilli. Serve with rice. 

 Parsnip and maple syrup cake

Picture features 'Float Away' pyjama set

"Deliciously sweet and smells amazing, a great alternative for carrot cake lovers." - Imogen (Marketing & PR Manager) 

Serves eight (prep time 20 minutes, cooking time 45 minutes)

Ingredients

  • 175g butter, plus extra for greasing
  • 250g demerara sugar
  • 100 ml maple syrup
  • 3 eggs
  • 250 g self raising flour 

  • 2 tsp baking powder

  • 2 tsp mixed spice 

  • 250g parsnips, peeled and grated

  • 1 medium eating apple, peeled, cored and grated 

  • 50 g pecans, roughly chopped 

  • Zest and juice of 1 small orange
  • 
Icing sugar, to serve

For the filling 


  • 250g tub mascarpone 
  • 
3-4 tbsp maple syrup 
  1. Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease 2 x 20cm sandwich tins and line the bases with baking parchment. Melt butter, sugar and maple syrup in a pan over a gentle heat, then cool slightly. Whisk the eggs into this mixture, then stir in the flour, baking powder and mixed spice, followed by grated parsnip, apple, chopped pecans, orange zest and juice. Divide between the tins, bake for 30 mins until the tops spring back when pressed lightly.
  2. Cool the cakes slightly in the tins before turning out onto wire racks to cool completely. Just before serving, mix together the mascarpone and maple syrup. Spread over one cake and sandwich with the other. Dust with icing sugar before serving. 
  3. Partner with the Joe's Tea Christmas Chai Cocktail to spice up a gloomy winter afternoon or cosy night in with friends. 

 

Recipe sourced from Good Food Magazine

Dinner 

Marinated pork chops with roast figs, sherry and mashed potato 

"Tried this recipe myself and it was pretty great!" - Jenny (Yawn Designer) 

Serves four

  • 4 slender bone-in pork chops, excess fat trimmed 

For the marinade

  • 2 tbsp sherry vinegar
  • 3 tbsp olive oil, plus 1 tbsp extra for frying
  • 2 tbsp runny honey
  • 2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed with a little salt
  • A handful of thyme leaves
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the mash

  • 1kg floury potato, peeled and cut into even chunks
  • 100g butter  
  • 75ml whole milk

For the figs

  • 6 figs, halved
  • 1 star anise, ground
  • Zest of ½ orange
  • 1 tbsp runny honey
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 4 tbsp oloroso sherry or madeira
  1. Mix all the marinade ingredients in a large bowl, season generously, then rub all over the chops. Cover and put in the fridge for at least an hour. Remove from the fridge half an hour before you plan to cook, so the chops come up to room temperature.
  2. Put the potatoes in a pan of salted water, bring to a boil, then simmer for 15-20 minutes, until soft. Meanwhile, in another pan, melt half the butter in the milk over a medium heat. Drain the potatoes into a colander, leave them to steam dry for a few minutes, then return to the pan and mash in the pan (or use a ricer), until smooth. Pour in the buttery milk, mash again, season to taste and keep warm.
  3. When you’re ready to eat, heat a baking tray in a 200C/390F/gas mark 6 oven. Generously season the figs, and toss them gently in a bowl with the star anise, orange zest, honey, oil, and a little salt and pepper.
  4. Shake off any excess marinade from the chops, then heat a frying pan on a medium-high flame. Add the last tablespoon of oil, then fry the chops for two minutes on each side, until golden; depending on the size of your pan, you may need to do this in two batches. Transfer to a plate and keep warm.
  5. In the same pan, sear the cut sides of the figs for five seconds or so, until coloured, then transfer to the pork plate.
  6. Put a dash of oil in the hot baking tray, then lay in the chops and arrange the figs cut side up around them. Drizzle any fig marinade over the fruit, then roast for six to 10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the chops, until cooked through. (I err on pink and juicy if they are free-range to avoid a dry chop.)
  7. Once cooked, put the meat and figs on a plate and leave to rest somewhere warm for five minutes (or wrap lightly in foil). Meanwhile, put the baking tray on a medium-high flame, add the sherry, and scrape up any burnt bits as it bubbles and reduces by half – this will take about a minute.
  8. Gently reheat the potato and stir in the remaining butter. Put a chop and some mash on each plate, and spoon the figs and sauce over the mash. 

Recipe sourced from The Guardian by Thomasina Miers

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