Nigella's Favourite Warming Dinners

Aromatic Lamb Shank Stew

As with all stews, this is even better made in advance and reheated; for me, this only makes things easier.

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Beef Stew With Anchovies and Thyme

The anchovies really just provide flavourfulness, certainly not fishiness: there is no need to mention their presence if you are feeding people who might take against the idea. This, as with most stew…

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Black Pudding Meatballs

When I included these black pudding meatballs in Cook, Eat, Repeat, I thought they would be a niche choice, but I have been gratifyingly overwhelmed by the number of people who have made and loved the…

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Broccoli and Stilton Soup

I use frozen broccoli; actually, frozen organic broccoli, if that makes you feel better. In fact, this is better when made with frozen, and certainly more convenient for an impromptu standby. And plea…

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Brown Butter Colcannon

There’s not a form of mashed potato that doesn’t speak deeply to me, but this Colcannon with Brown Butter is just on another level. The colcannon itself doesn’t really veer from the traditional Irish…

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Butternut and Chick Pea Soup With Bulgur Wheat

This is a comforting, deeply flavoured meal of a soup. I love an Italian minestrone, and I wanted to make a soup that drew on that, but within a different flavour range. So here the sweetness of onion…

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Butternut and Pasta Soup

This is a robust and bolstering soup — I make it for lunch when it’s cold and I want to cook something easy and comforting, but with some distracting chopping involved. If you don't wish to use the dr…

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Carbonnade a La Flamande

There is something about cooking the classics that feels like coming home and this comforting Belgian casserole is a reassuringly simple recipe — I scarcely bother to sear the meat — that feeds a huge…

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Cheesy Chilli

I can't count how often I find myself stirring a pan with some mince in it. Not that this is anything to apologize for: it's easy, quick and comforting. I could probably measure out my life in chilli…

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Chicken and Ham Pies

I loved making these pies for my children when they were little, not that it makes me any less happy to make them now. I think it’s safe to say that — for most of us — a pie is always a blessing. And…

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Chicken Barley

This thick, creamy pottage, somewhere cosily between a stew and a slightly soupy, sticky risotto, offers instant comfort. This is the sort of food that gets left behind in the Instagram age: not prett…

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Chicken With 40 Cloves of Garlic

When I was young, this old French classic was still — though in a quiet way — very much in vogue. I dare to say it was because the novelty of using so many garlic cloves had not worn off; it seemed so…

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Chicken with Red Grapes and Marsala

Brimming with mellow fruitfulness, the muskiness of the Marsala and the scented woodsiness of the thyme, this is the perfect autumnal supper; that said, it doesn’t stop me eating this all year round.…

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Crab Mac 'n' Cheese

This is the most luscious of treats: rich, to be sure, but somehow delicate at the same time. Smoked paprika and crab (a 50/50 mixture of both white and brown meat) give an almost honeyed depth to the…

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Ham Hocks with Mustard and Marmalade

“Eternity”, lamented Dorothy Parker, “is a ham and two people.” Now, for me the Christmas Ham is all-important, and the leftovers from it essential; I couldn’t tire of them no matter how many days on…

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Indian-Spiced Shepherd's Pie

My children love this. Actually, I don't know anyone who's eaten it and doesn't. While it's spicy (though you can reduce the heat to taste) and vibrant, it is also cosy and comforting, and blends the…

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Jansson's Temptation

Known as chip gratin in my house, this is the most fabulous potato bake, and an indispensable part of Christmas celebrations in Sweden: the potatoes are cut as if you were making French fries, then la…

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Lasagne of Love

This is what I make for my children’s birthday celebrations, for farewell suppers to send them off before they go away, and for the dinners to welcome them back when they come home again. It’s our fam…

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Lasagne of love is a suitable name as it is time consuming but well worth it. I have struggled to make a good lasagne for 35 years. At last! Went down very well. Thank you.

Massaman Beef Curry

This is another recipe inspired by my Thai travels — see Thai Noodles with Cinnamon and Prawns — and I have cooked it many, many times since. It is essentially a beef and potato stew, with all the com…

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Minestrone

This glorious vegetable and bean soup can be adapted to use any vegetables you have lying around, more or less — but I prefer not to include tomatoes here. The only drawback is that the soup, after al…

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Oxtail With Milk Stout and Marjoram

There is something about the tender viscosity and deep, rich flavour of slow-cooked oxtail that makes it, for me, the dream stew. I know its fattiness is not for everyone, but I love the way it feels…

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Pasta E Fagioli

This is that life-saving, thick, pasta-and-bean meal of a soup — pasta fazool — as sung about by Dean Martin in That's Amore. It's just the thing you want to eat when the rain's battering against the…

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Roast Duck Legs with Potatoes

This is one of those leave 'em and love 'em meals. For all the ease of express-style food, there is a lot to be said for simply stashing something in the oven for an hour or two when stuck in too-tire…

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Slow-Cooker Moroccan Chicken Stew

This is a lightly fragranced golden stew that gains more succulence from having the bones of the chicken thighs in as well. The skin gives flavour, too, and both skin and bones are removed on serving…

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Soupy Rice with Celeriac and Chestnuts

I think of this rather as an autumnal or wintry version of risi e bisi, Venice’s celebration of spring in the form of a pea risotto that is just this side of a soup. It has a certain elegant calm abou…

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Split Pea Soup With Chilli, Ginger And Lime

This is one of those thick, wintry soups made spiky and fresh with chilli, ginger and lime. It has the hit of a hot and sour soup, but the nubbliness of the split peas gives those clear, piercing flav…

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Vegan Spag Bol

This is perfect when you need ballast, comfort and cheer. It’s certainly not light, and you may of course use less sauce per pasta (and indeed less pasta, too) than I advise, but I have very much mode…

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Venetian Stew

There is an old Venetian dish called, in dialect, Manai, that is the inspiration for this. And I emphasise the word "inspiration": Manai, which broadly speaking involves polenta with beans, bacon and…

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Wide Noodles with Lamb Shank in Aromatic Broth

This recipe is a particularly special one for me: it gladdens my heart and infuses me with shoulder-lowering serenity. While it’s certainly easy to make — something you would never guess by the comple…

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Yellow Split Pea and Frankfurter Soup

This embracingly hearty meal of a soup always makes me feel grateful for the harsh winter weather. I used to make it for a cosy family New Year’s Day lunch, and still do happily, but it would be a sha…

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Norwegian Pork Ribs

A vital part of the Christmas Eve dinner in Norway, these pork ribs have the tenderest meat and the crunchiest crackling imaginable. You have to take a leap of faith when making them, as the idea of l…

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Chowder With Southeast Asian Flavours

This is the perfect supper on those days when a knife and fork seem like just too much work. It's instantly comforting but spirited enough to make one feel invigorated rather than stultified by eating…

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Sweetcorn Chowder With Toasted Tortilla Chips

The tortilla chips I use here are those crisp, crunchy, corn-gritty triangles that I never need an excuse to eat, but if you are in search of one yourself, I heartily recommend this soup. Mind you, ev…

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Great soup, so tasty and quick. My boys love it for lunch after a cold morning at football, I think it's going to be a weekly staple!

Meatballs

The trick to these meatballs is to keep them small. Don’t actually use a teaspoon, but use about a teaspoon’s amount of mince to roll each ball. If there are children around, so much the better; they…

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Meatballs with Orzo

Orzo pasta is a non-negotiable staple in my kitchen. Simply dressed in butter and salt, and maybe a dusting of nutmeg or grated Parmesan, or indeed both, it often serves at my table as a substitute fo…

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Mellow Meatballs

I buy organic beef mini meatballs from the supermarket, which makes this extremely easy to put together, and there'd be nothing to stop you freezing them and cooking straight from frozen, if that help…

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Chorizo and Chickpea Stew

This is a real feast of a store-cupboard standby. I do know that chorizo isn’t a kitchen-cupboard item, but it tends to have a long fridge-life, so I always have some to hand just in case. It’s full o…

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This tastes so awesome!!

Fear-Free Fish Stew

I know a lot of people are hesitant about cooking fish, and I do understand why, but this, my friends, is the recipe to allay your anxieties and free you from fear. Your fissues will be a thing of the…

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My Mother's Praised Chicken

This may well be — indeed is — the smell, the taste, the dish that says "family" to me and my siblings, and brings our long-absent mother back to the kitchen and the table with us. This is not merely…

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Cheddar Cheese Risotto

This might seem odd to Italians but it works beautifully: the starchy rice, the sharp Cheddar, both are the perfect counterpoint for each other. I make this on days when I need to escape to the kitche…

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Kedgeree Risotto

This is a strange hybrid of a recipe: kedgeree cooked as if it were a risotto, that is to say Anglo-Indian influence, Italian method. I admit, however, that Italians may look askance at this recipe: a…

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Pasta Risotto With Peas and Pancetta

Here, I cook pasta much as I would if I were making a traditional risotto. But there is a difference — that you don't have to stir constantly and that the pasta takes only 10 minutes to cook are obvio…

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Risotto al Ragù

There’s no denying that this recipe involves a bit of fiddle-faddling, but so soothing is the process, so welcoming and enveloping the savoury smells emanating from stove and oven as it cooks, so ambr…

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First of all, the bolognese sauce in this recipe is incredible. I cook every day, and have made countless versions, this one is easily the best! Pairing it with a risotto is an inspired move. The finished dish is flavorful, cosy, and impressive to serve. The sauce can be made ahead, which makes this totally doable for guests. This is definitely one to add to your rotation!

Korean Calamari

Never has a quick meal tasted so spectacular. Yes, you do need to hunt down this fabulous flavoured paste — think chilli with a sweet and smoky hit of almost liquorice intensity — but once you have it…

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Korean Keema

Keema is a fantastically hangover-salving dish of spicy (usually lamb) mince; this version uses minced turkey and, more significantly, its heat is provided by the gochujang, the Korean chilli paste th…

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Pumpkin and Goat's Cheese Lasagne

One of the questions I am asked most often is how do I come up with recipes? The answer is simple: greed. When I'm not eating, I'm thinking about what I might want to eat, and the notion of pumpkin la…

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Tortilla Lasagne

Many of you might have noticed this recipe has had a name-change: somewhat lazily, and definitely erroneously, I’ve always called it “Mexican Lasagne”; I’m far happier with its new name, Tortilla Lasa…

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Macaroni Cheese

This is the shortcut version: no cheese sauce, but a gorgeously huge amount of cheese, bound with egg and evaporated milk. Yum. And please read the Additional Information section at the end of the rec…

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Sweet Potato Macaroni Cheese

I’m just going to say it: this is the best macaroni cheese I’ve ever eaten. I don’t feel it’s boastful to say as much, as the greatness lies not in any brilliance on my part, but in the simple tastes…

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Softly Spiced Mung Beans with Mint and Coriander Yogurt

These tiny, vibrantly khaki — if that's not too strange a concept — beans, thickened with red lentils, make for a dal-like stew that I turn to so often. It's mild and modest, but I love its earthy sim…

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Italian Sausages With Lentils

My mother used English sausages mostly, and those flat, sludgy lentils (Puy lentils weren't so easily available then) but this is at its best made with highly flavoured Italian sausages (I love the on…

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Sausages With Beans and Peppers

This recipe uses Italian sausages, and I specify them advisedly; being 100% meat and loosely packed, they cook much faster than the densely-woven, finer-textured English sausage. If you are making thi…

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Seafood Pot

This makes for a very quick, warming and yet elegant supper. A fennel salad before or after would be lovely, but you need no more with it than just some bread for dunking.

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Saffron Orzotto

I regard this orzotto — think risotto but made with barley, 'orzo' being the Italian for barley — as a potato substitute, that's to say as a starchy accompaniment to a roast chicken or ham or bowl of…

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Rib-Sticking Stir-Fry

There is a good amount of meat in this and I bung in a can of cannellini beans rather than going to the, admittedly not really demanding, lengths of cooking and draining some noodles and throwing them…

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Red Leicester Cauliflower Cheese

There is a particular bolstering comfort you get from the cosy familiarity of cauliflower blanketed in cheese sauce and blistered in the oven. I must tell you that this brilliant way of preparing the…

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Nursery Fish Pie

There are certain days when only something soothing and comforting and topped with mash potato will do; on such days, this pie could make you weep with gratitude.

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Pappardelle With Lamb Ragu

‘Ragout’ is French, ‘ragù’ Italian, and this meat sauce is certainly inspired by the Sicilian combination of sweet lamb, dried wild mint and crushed chilli flakes, though I’ve added an Anglo note with…

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Rapid Ragù

When I am feeling fragile and in need of cosiness and comfort, my favourite supper is a helping of minced meat with some grated cheese on top, eaten by greedy, grateful spoonful out of a cereal bowl.…

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Creamy Potato Gratin

My not entirely orthodox way of turning out this otherwise classic dish of cream-softened potatoes has a lot going for it.

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Aaah! I simply loved it. I tried it and it came out to be a huge success..Kudos!

Gnocchi Gratin

I make this gratin, for preference, with the so-called freshly made kind of gnocchi that can be found in the chill cabinet of the supermarket. They come (or do near me) in packets of 400g but, if you…

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Potato, Parsnip and Porcini Gratin

Cooking potatoes for large numbers of people is not always easy. This gratin makes it so, not least because I don’t peel the potatoes (or the parsnips for that matter). Obviously, you don’t need to ma…

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Pollo Alla Cacciatora

This is an old favourite — chicken cooked "the hunter's way" or, rather, "the huntress's way" — which grants a certain amount of culinary licence, although Italians might not agree. My version is trad…

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Slow-Cooker Lamb and Pasta

Admittedly, making a meat sauce and then cooking pasta in it is very un-Italian, but it is dee-lish. Plus, it goes down a treat with children and teenagers and thus makes a great family supper. I love…

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Butternut and Sweet Potato Curry

This is a rambunctiously vibrant curry, both to look at and eat. It is rich, sweet and hearty, with tomatoes providing a balancing acidity and the curry paste bringing uncompromising fire. I like the…

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Cauliflower And Cashew Nut Curry

My suggestion would be to serve this just as it is, but with some pillowy naan warmed up in the oven for dippage as you eat. But if you want to, by all means rustle up some rice or — let me be a middl…

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Curry In A Hurry

If you want to make this with fresh vegetables rather than frozen, then up the water (keeping the amount of stock concentrate the same) and indeed I would double it to 500ml / 2 cups. But if using fro…

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Chicken In A Pot with Lemon and Orzo

This is a dish, a family favourite, that I cooked moreorless straight after I’d got off the plane after two months on the road, to signal and celebrate that I was truly home. It’s a simple one pot dis…

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Golden Egg Curry

This magnificent addition to my eating life comes courtesy of Yasmin Othman (who has brought much deliciousness my way over the years) and I glow with gratitude every time I eat it. This — called masa…

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Kerala Fish Curry

This tamarind-tangy curry makes for a perfect dinner on a hot night; light enough not to knock you out, but spiced enough to prompt a heat-drowsy appetite. And it is such gloriously easy food to make.…

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Mauritian Prawn Curry

This is a sprightly curry, fierily orange and warm with cinnamon and nutmeg. Make some plain basmati rice to go with it and you’re done.

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Red Prawn and Mango Curry

This is one of the easiest suppers to make, but somehow, however much I know this, it always surprises me. Not in the cooking, so much as in the eating: I can't believe, each time anew, how deep and t…

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South Indian Vegetable Curry

This is another way of making sure the odd handful of beans or other vegetable fragments can be eaten up when none of them individually can offer a meal in themselves. You can vary the vegetables acco…

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Thai Yellow Pumpkin and Seafood Curry

It's a good idea to have something up your sleeve that you can cook quickly, and simply, when you've got friends coming over to supper midweek after work. This is that something. Don't let the length…

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I have made this recipe umpteen times now. And, without fail, the guests ask for the recipe!

Tomato Curry With Coconut Rice

Balance is everything in cooking: here, the acid brightness of the tomatoes is met with the sweetness of peas and the rich creaminess of the coconut rice, itself pricked with the sharpness of lime and…

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