Don’t we all need comfort food to ease us gently in the New Year?
I’ve been longing for a bubbly cauliflower cheese or a creamy mac and cheese, flecked and golden on top with crispy bits around the edge of the dish. All that’s needed as an accompaniment is a robust green salad. Some shredded Savoy cabbage, watercress sprigs and whatever winter lettuce I can still forage in the garden.
Keep an eye out for hairy bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta) or wintercress too, there will be lots of it growing in little rosettes in your flower or vegetable beds.
Don’t dream of spraying it, eat it – it’s delicious added to salads or a starter as soon as the weather warms a little, it will flower and go to seed. It’s abundant and at its best at present and is packed with Vitamin A and C as well as iron and calcium folinate and it’s free. What’s not to like about that with the added bonus of ‘weeding’ your garden. Let 2025 be the year when you start to eat your ‘weeds’, a very high percentage of what we call weeds are edible and super nutritious. So, instead of trotting off to the health food shop or pharmacist, swot up on the wild food around us.
There are many excellent books on foraging but if your budget has run a bit low after Christmas, just do a GOOGLE search for a ton of information. Careful as once you get started, you’ll become obsessed with nature’s medicine cabinet, and you’ll be a nerd in no time.
Back to a gratin of cauliflower and mac and cheese – both of these dishes are dependent on being able to make a silky béchamel sauce, one of the ‘mother sauces’ in culinary jargon, but don’t let that put you off, it’s super easy to make and can be converted into countless, daughter sauces with fancy names by adding another flavour at the end. For example, lots of grated cheese and it becomes Mornay Sauce. Copious amounts of chopped curly parsley added at the end, make Parsley Sauce, the very best accompaniment to bacon or corned beef and cabbage. Sweat a pan of chopped, Irish grown onions until meltingly tender, add to a basic béchamel with a dollop of cream and hey presto, you have Sauce Soubise, one of the very best accompaniments to serve with a roast shoulder of lamb, as well as redcurrant sauce and fresh mint sauce made with the first of the new season’s mint – watch out, spearmint will make an appearance in a sheltered part of your garden before too long.
Béchamel is also an essential component for a fish pie, another of our all-time favourites. Try this riff, a back to front version with a few crunchy buttered crumbs on top, I think it may become a family favourite. But the fish MUST be fresh – easier said than done. First learn how to recognise fresh fish…your challenge for 2025.
Cod, Hake or Haddock with Buttered Crumbs
Cook and eat as soon as possible.
Fresh fish with a crunchy topping in a creamy sauce is always tempting. There is an added bonus with this recipe because one can do many variations, all of which are delicious.
Serves 6-8
1.1kg hake, cod, ling, haddock, grey sea mullet or pollock
salt and freshly ground pepper
15g butter
Mornay Sauce
600ml milk
a few slices of carrot and onion
3 or 4 peppercorns
a sprig of thyme and parsley
50g approx. roux (equal quantities of softened butter and flour, cooked together for 2 minutes)
150-175g grated cheddar cheese or 75g grated Parmesan cheese
¼ tsp mustard preferably Dijon
salt and freshly ground pepper
225g mushrooms
1 tbsp freshly chopped parsley (optional)
15g butter
salt and freshly ground pepper
Buttered Crumbs
25g butter
50g soft, white breadcrumbs
First make the Mornay sauce. Put the cold milk into a saucepan with a few slices of carrot and onion, 3 or 4 peppercorns and a sprig of thyme and parsley. Bring to the boil, simmer for 4-5 minutes, remove from the heat and leave to infuse for 10 minutes if you have enough time.
Strain out the vegetables, bring the milk back to the boil and thicken with roux to a coating consistency. Take off the heat, allow to cool for 1 minute then add the mustard and two thirds of the grated cheese, keep the remainder of the cheese for sprinkling over the top. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper, taste and correct the seasoning if necessary. Add the parsley if using.
Next make the buttered crumbs. Melt the butter in a pan and stir in the breadcrumbs. Remove from the heat immediately and allow to cool.
Slice the mushrooms, melt the butter and sauté them on a very hot pan, season with salt and freshly ground pepper, add the chopped parsley and keep aside.
Skin the fish and cut into portions: 175g for a main course, 75g for a starter. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Lightly butter the ovenproof dish, spread a little mornay sauce on the base, lay the fish on top and coat generously with more sauce. Mix the remaining grated cheese with the buttered crumbs and sprinkle over the top.
Cook in a moderate oven, 180°C/Gas Mark 4, for 25-30 minutes or until the fish is cooked through and the top is golden brown and crispy. If necessary, flash under the grill for a minute or two before you serve, to brown the edges of the potato.
Darina’s Favourite Mac and Cheese
Mac and cheese is a bit like apple crumble, simple fare but everyone loves it, plus you can add lots of tasty bits to change it up. Macaroni cheese was and still is one of my children’s favourite supper dishes. I often add some cubes of cooked bacon, guanciale, chorizo or ham to the sauce.
Serves 6
225g macaroni or ditalini
50g butter
150g onion, finely chopped
50g plain flour
1 litre boiling whole milk
¼ tsp Dijon or English mustard
1 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley (optional)
225g freshly grated mature Cheddar cheese or a mix of Cheddar, Gruyère and Parmesan
25g freshly grated Cheddar or Parmesan cheese, for sprinkling on top (optional)
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Bring 3.4 litres water to the boil in a large saucepan and add 2 teaspoons of salt. Sprinkle in the macaroni and stir to make sure it doesn’t stick together. Cook according to the packet instructions until al dente (a very slight bite). Drain well.
Meanwhile, melt the butter over a gentle heat, add the chopped onion, stir to coat, cover and sweat over a gentle heat for 6-8 minutes. Add the flour and cook over a medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 1-2 minutes. Remove from the heat. Whisk the milk in gradually, season well with salt and pepper, then return to the boil, stirring constantly. Add the mustard, parsley, if using, and cheese. Add the well-drained macaroni and return to the boil. Season to taste and serve immediately.
Alternatively, turn into a 1.2 litre pie dish and sprinkle the extra grated cheese over the top. Bake at 180°C/Gas Mark 4 for 15-20 minutes.
Good Things with Mac & Cheese
* Smoked Salmon or Smoked Mackerel
Add 225g smoked salmon or smoked mackerel dice to the mac and cheese before serving.
* Chorizo
Add 225g diced chorizo and lots of chopped flat-leaf parsley to the mac and cheese before baking.
Cauliflower Cheese Gratin
Ah, cauliflower cheese, who doesn’t love a big dish of bubbly cauliflower cheese with a layer of golden cheese melting on top? Make more than you need, save the cauliflower cooking water and transform any leftovers into the most delicious soup that will have all the family begging for more. Follow the recipe below but instead of browning in the oven or under the grill, liquidise the lot with any leftover cauliflower cooking water and 850ml light chicken stock to make a nice consistency. Season the soup to taste and serve with croutons, cubes of diced Cheddar cheese and freshly chopped parsley.
Serves 6-8
1 cauliflower with green leaves
pinch of salt
For the Cheese Sauce
600ml whole milk with a dash of cream
½ onion, cut in chunks
1 small carrot, cut in chunks
6 black peppercorns
a sprig of thyme and someparsley stalks
roux (equal quantities of softened butter and plain flour, cooked for 2 minutes)
salt and freshly ground pepper
150g grated cheese, such as Cheddar or better still, a mixture of Gruyére, Parmesan and Cheddar
½ tsp Dijon mustard
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Garnish
freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley, to garnish
Preheat the oven to 230°C/Gas Mark 8.
Prepare and cook the cauliflower.
Remove the outer leaves and wash both the cauliflower and the leaves well. Put no more than 2.5cm of water in a saucepan just large enough to take the cauliflower; add a little salt. Chop the leaves into small pieces and cut the cauliflower in quarters or eighths; place the cauliflower on top of the green leaves in the saucepan, cover with a lid and simmer for 8-10 minutes until cooked. Test by piercing the stalk with a knife – they should be tender right through.
Meanwhile make the cheese sauce.
Put the cold milk into a saucepan with the onion, carrot, peppercorns and herbs. Bring to the boil, simmer for 3-4 minutes, remove from the heat and leave to infuse for 10 minutes.
Strain out the vegetables, return the milk to the boil and whisk in the roux until it reaches a light coating consistency. Add most of the grated cheese (save enough to sprinkle over the dish) and mustard. Season to taste. Spoon the sauce over the cauliflower and sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese. The dish may be prepared ahead to this point.
Put into the preheated oven or under the grill to brown. If the cauliflower cheese is allowed to cool completely, it will take 20-25 minutes to reheat in the oven at 180°C/Gas Mark 4. Serve sprinkled with the coarsely chopped parsley.