At the beginning of themonth, for a few brief and steamy days, we enjoyed ahot burst of sunny weather that confused plants and people everywhere. We discarded sweaters and scarves, and dragged barbecues out of sheds and garages for one last hurrah. After a less than stellar summer, we greeted the Indian kind with gleeful, cheerful enthusiasm, and a sudden burst of salads.
But now it's back to autumn business as usual – crisp mornings, blustery days and the creeping chillof short afternoons. We're losing the light – but gaining cosy toes by the fire. The kitchen response comes in the form of tasty,gutsy soups, stews and gratins. Hello darkness, my old friend, I'vecome to eat with you again…
After a bone-chilling day in the garden, tucking into a rib-sticking dish of something hot is quite theconsolation prize. And it's at thistime of year that Ilong for dishes thick with pulses, bubbling with cheese or filled with tender, slow-cooked meat. Essentially, peasant food designed to stoke thefire of hard labour.
While it's easy to admire the artistry of a plate smeared with areduction of some complex and refined sauce or sprinkled with impossibly pretty microleaves, those are rarely the dishes we long for, the ones that call us home and, when we see them spooned on to less than perfect plates, let us knowwe've arrived. Dishes of theheart rarely come with fancy garnishes, in stacks or towers, with glossy little blobs of sauce arranged artfully around the main event. They're heaped and ladled as quickly as possible, so we can get down to the important business of eating, sharing, talking.
Historically, these kinds of dishes have been based around thrift – inexpensive ingredients such as pasta, pulses, root veg and small amounts of cheap cuts of meat cooked to make the most of their flavours and belly-filling potential. Today, we enjoy them for their soul-feeding deliciousness, whether we've put in a hard day in the fields or a tough day at the computer.
The beauty of such dishes is thatthere are very few rules. Some of them vary not just by region but byfamily, so you shouldn't feel constrained by the stifling straitjacket of purism. Make them your own, vary them according towhat you love and what you havein your kitchen cupboards. Pasta e fa*gioli, for instance, is traditionally made with borlotti beans, but if you don'thave or likethose, just use haricot or cannellini beans instead. For centuries, Italians have called pulses"la carne dei poveri", or poorman's meat, so also ditch the bacon if you prefer and compensate by ramping up the herbs and other seasonings. Grape pickers' potatoes are usually made with gruyère, butemmental or any other good, melty cheese will do. When it comesto goulash, that best known of Hungarian dishes, what we call goulash they would call pörkölt (orpaprikás, if it includes sour cream), and it's also sometimes made with chicken, pork or veal, sodo try it with meats other than beef, if you fancy.
Though I hope you will make andenjoy today's recipes, Ialso hope you'll customise and bastardise them to your heart's content. That's what long, cold weekends are made for.
Goulash
In Hungary, the simple meal of meatand onions seasoned with paprika is called gulyás leves – which means cowboy's or cattle driver's soup. What we think of as goulash, a soupy, stewy rib-sticker to which sour cream has been added, is more correctly called paprikás. Whatever you call it, though, there are few dishes more comforting on acold day. Serves six.
3 tbsp vegetable oil, rendered pork fat or lard
2 onions, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
½ tsp caraway seeds
1kg beef shin, cut into 3cm cubes
1 ½ tbsp sweet Hungarian paprika
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
1 bay leaf
2 green peppers, cored, deseeded and cut into thin strips
3 medium-sized tomatoes, cored, deseeded and diced
2 medium-sized potatoes, peeled and cut into 3cm cubes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
To serve
Sour cream and chives
Warm a tablespoon of oil or fat in a large saucepan over a medium-low heat and fry the onions until they are soft and translucent, about 15 minutes. Add the garlic and carawayseeds, fry for a further minute, then scrape the onion mixture into a bowl.
Raise the heat, add the rest of theoil or fat and brown the meat onall sides. Remove from the heat, return the onions to the pan along with the paprika and cayenne, and stir until the meat is well coated with onions and spices. Add the bayleaf and just enough water to cover the meat by about 3cm.
Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer gently, uncovered, for about an hour, until the meat is tender. Add the peppers, tomatoes and potatoes. Season and simmer for a further 20 minutes. Serve witha dollop of sour cream and some chives.
Pasta e fa*gioli
Dean Martin crooned, "When the stars make you drool just likeapastafazool, that's amore!" using the American-Italian slang forthis dish. He had a point – simple, tasty and delicious, it's easyto fall for thisgutsy soup. The bacon can be replaced with pork rind, cooked pig's trotter orcotechino sausage. Also, if you really can't be bothered with soaking and cooking dried beans, a400g tin, drained, will do. Servessix to eight.
3 tbsp olive oil or rapeseed oil
2 onions, diced
1 small sprig rosemary
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves, roughly chopped
1 bay leaf
2 carrots, diced
1 celery stick, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
4 rashers unsmoked streaky bacon, diced (optional)
400g tinned plum tomatoes
150g dried borlotti beans (or haricotor cannellini), soaked overnight, drained, put in enough coldwater to cover them by 7cm andcooked until tender
800ml chicken or vegetable stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
100g small pasta tubes, such astubetti
30g parmesan, finely grated
4 tbsp finely chopped parsley
To serve
Parmesan and extra-virgin olive oil or rapeseed oil
Warm the olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium-low heat. Add the onion, rosemary, thyme andbay leaf, and sauté very gently until the onion just begins to turn golden. Add the carrots, celery and garlic, and sauté for five minutes.
Remove the rosemary sprig, raise the heat slightly and add the bacon, if using. Cook, stirring, for five minutes, then add the tomatoes, mashing them slightly against the side of the pan, and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the cooked beans, give everything a good stir and cook for five minutes more. Add the stock and bring to a simmer.
Scoop out a cupful of the beans and veg, puree them in a food processor or blender, then return tothe pan. Stir and season with saltand pepper. If at this stage the soup is not liquid enough to cook the pasta, simply add a bit more stock or water. Bring the soup to a boil, add the pasta and cook for four to fiveminutes, until it is cooked through but still has a bit ofbite to it.
Take the pan off the heat, remove and discard the bay leaf, andstir in the grated parmesan andchopped parsley. Serve in warmed bowls, topping each one with a swirlof oil anda few parmesan shavings.
Grape pickers' potatoes
These rich and delicious pommes des vendangeurs were traditionally fed to workers during the burgundy grape harvest. You really don't needmuch more with them than a green salad, and perhaps a generous glass of burgundy. Serves six.
750g potatoes
40g butter
300g smoked streaky bacon rashers
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp finely chopped rosemary
150g gruyère, grated
Heat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Peel the potatoes and slice them very thinly, using either asharp knife or a mandolin.
Brush a 24-26cm cast-iron or similarly heavy ovenproof dish with a little of the butter. Stretch the bacon with the back of a heavy, medium-sized knife so it won't shrink so much when cooked. Line the dish with the slices of bacon, covering the bottom and sides and leaving the upper third orso of each rasher hanging over thesides.
Place a layer of potatoes on top, season with pepper, a little salt and some of the rosemary, and scatter over a quarter of the cheese. Repeat the layers three times, finishing with alayer of potatoes.
Cover the potatoes with the overhanging bacon. Dot with the remaining butter, then cover with atight, double layer of foil and also alid, if the pan has one. Bake for anhour to an hour and a quarter, oruntil the potatoes are cooked through and tender.
Remove the dish from the oven, uncover and leave it to stand for 10 minutes before cutting. Gently loosen the bacon rashers from thesides of the dish with a metal spatula and turn out on to a warm serving dish.
