As we start to see family members again, it's only natural that we'll want to cook the tastiest food for them. Two of our food writers share their favourite comforting family recipes...
When I was asked about my favourite comfort food, the only thing I could think of is this. I don’t cook it very often, but traditionally in most Caribbean household, it’s the meal you look forward to on a Sunday. The reason why this came to mind because of the word ‘comfort’ and it’s something I used to regularly enjoy. Plus, with my mother passing away at the end of January, I saw it as a tribute to her. The way she taught me, was to use a little bit of this and a pinch of that, but I’ve tried to find recipes to help those who have never cooked it before.
The first thing we’d start with is preparing the peas on a Saturday night for Sunday morning. The recipe below is enough for four people. But generally, I cook 250g of dried kidney beans, black-eyed peas and gungo peas and freeze them in batches, to use when I need them. Because of that, I add my coconut cream/milk, salt and pepper to the deforested peas when I add my rice.
Rice and Peas
Ingredients
400g of dried kidney beans
2 scallions
4 sprigs of thyme
2 cloves of garlic
1/a Scotch bonnet (optional)
Salt and black pepper
Water
Seasoning all (optional)
600g rice basmati or long grain
60g coconut cream or 400ml coconut milk.
Method
Roast chicken
Ingredients
165g/2kg whole chicken
Seasoning (optional) I used a combination of turmeric, cumin and jerk seasoning.
2/3 chopped cloves of garlic
Salt
Pepper
Cooking time: 45 mins per Kg, plus 20mins at Gas 6/180C Fan/200C Electric
Method
To be done the night before.
The next day:
Comfort food is something that we use to boost our spirits and during lockdown the need for comfort food has been more pertinent than ever. Each family has their own go-to recipes and this one is ours; hopefully, it can become one of yours as well!
Ingredients
4 large chicken thighs or 8 small thighs
1 lemon
6 cloves of garlic
3 sprigs of thyme
900g of potatoes
200g of Chorizo
Olive Oil
Preheat the oven to 180C/fan oven/Gas mark 4
Method
While the oven is heating up chop up your potatoes into small chunks, spread them over your roasting tray and cover with a few glugs of olive oil. Add your sliced Chorizo, season with salt and pepper and put the tray in the oven. Leave to cook for 10 minutes
In the meantime, slice your lemon into roughly 1cm thick slices. Add the lemon, thyme and garlic cloves to the tray and place your chicken on top. Sit each chicken thigh on top of a slice of lemon. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and place the tray back in the oven for 35 minutes or until your chicken is golden and crispy and the potatoes are cooked.
The garlic and lemon are the real stars of the dish for me, the garlic is roasted so you will be able to squeeze it out of its casing and enjoy its sweet flavour. The lemon becomes incredibly soft and loses a lot of the acidity it has when raw, so its nice to eat as well.
This dish is perfectly accompanied by a fresh leafy salad and a sunny day.