From Korean spiced hotpot to baked squash: Chantelle Nicholson’s recipes for winter warmers | Food

Whole baked onion squash with caramelised onion, thyme and kale stuffing (pictured above)

Prep 10 min
Cook 1 hr 30 min
Serves 2 as a main, 4 as a side

I used to love stuffed pumpkin as a kid, and as a teen. Back home in New Zealand, our “standard” pumpkin was called a buttercup, but sadly they are not grown here, and the most similar one I have found in England is kabocha squash. I discovered onion squash last year, and they work very well stuffed – they are sweet and compact, and the skin is really delicious when cooked, too.

1 onion squash
½ small bunch thyme, leaves picked
60g butter
2 onions, peeled and finely sliced
Sea salt and black pepper
150g kale, finely chopped
50g-75g cheddar, grated
75g fresh breadcrumbs
25g pumpkin seeds, roughly chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten

Cut the top off the squash (save it for later) and scoop out the seeds and strands. Put these in a medium saucepan, cover with water, then add the thyme stalks and bring to a boil. Cook for 20 minutes, then strain and return the pumpkin stock to the pan. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes more, until you have around 100ml liquid left.

Meanwhile, heat the oven to 210C (190C fan)/410F/gas 6½. Melt the butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat, add the onions, season well with salt and saute, stirring regularly, for 20-25 minutes, until a deep golden brown.

Put the kale in a large bowl and rub the leaves with your fingertips for three minutes – this basically tenderises them. Add the fried onions and all the remaining ingredients to the kale bowl and toss to combine.

Put the squash in a lightly greased roasting pan or dish, pack the cavity with the kale mix and pour the squash stock over the top. Pop the lid of the pumpkin back on top, then bake for 25-30 minutes, until the squash is cooked through. Serve hot as a main course with some winter greens (sprout tops, cavolo nero) or as a side for roast chicken or fried fish.

Caramelised celeriac, cavolo nero and chestnut bread pudding

A great way to use up old bread, and a comforting supper that can be made well in advance and reheated later, be that pan frying it in lashings of butter or warming it through in the oven.

Prep 10 min
Soak 20 min
Cook 1 hr
Serves 4

3 eggs
600ml milk
2 tbsp miso paste
8 slices sourdough, crusts on
50g butter
1 medium celeriac, peeled and roughly diced
Sea salt and black pepper
200g cavolo nero, finely chopped
100g cooked chestnuts
½ nutmeg

Heat the oven to 190C (170C fan)/375F/gas 5. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs with half the milk and the miso paste, then set aside.

Arrange the sourdough slices in a single layer in a roasting tray and pour the egg mixture on top. Leave to soak for 10 minutes, then turn over the slices and leave to soak for 10 minutes more.

While the bread is soaking, melt the butter in a large saucepan on a medium heat. Once hot, add the celeriac, season generously, then cook, stirring regularly, until deep golden brown all over and cooked through. Add the remaining 300ml milk to the pan, leave to simmer for five more minutes, then blend smooth.

Put half the soaked bread in the base of a deep casserole dish. Top with half the cavolo nero, followed by half the celeriac puree. Top with the remaining bread, pour any excess egg mixture on top of the bread, then top again with the remaining cavolo nero and celeriac puree.

Grate the chestnuts all over the top, then finely grate over the nutmeg and bake for 20 minutes. Leave to rest for 10 minutes, then serve (or chill and save for reheating later).

Smoked mackerel toasties with cheddar, capers and pickled kale stems

When my new zero-waste restaurant, All’s Well in Hackney, east London, had to become a shop and takeaway during November’s lockdown, we put this toastie on the menu. It’s pretty simple, but super-tasty. Pickling is a great way to make use of kale stalks, which would normally otherwise be thrown out. If you don’t have kale stems, you can apply the same pickling technique to just about any other vegetable, or use gherkins instead.

Prep 10 min
Pickle 20 min
Cook 20 min
Makes 4

8 slices sourdough, crusts on
4 fillets smoked mackerel, skin removed, flesh roughly chopped
4 tbsp capers
50g watercress
100g cheddar, grated
Black pepper
60g salted butter

For the pickled kale stems
50ml white-wine vinegar
2 tbsp caster sugar
4 kale stems, sliced

Start with the pickled kale stems. Put the vinegar and sugar in a small saucepan, bring to a boil, then remove from the heat and add 50ml cold water. Add the kale stems and leave to steep for at least 20 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6.

To assemble the toasties, line up four slices of bread on a chopping board. Lay a quarter of the smoked mackerel on each slice, then top the fish with a tablespoon of capers and a quarter of the pickled kale stems. Divide the watercress between the four slices, then cover with the grated cheese and a good grind of black pepper. Top with the remaining slices of sourdough and press down well.

Heat half the butter in a large, nonstick frying pan over a moderate heat. Once it has melted, lay in two of the toasties, leave to brown gently, then carefully flip over and brown the other side. Transfer to a baking tray, then repeat with the remaining butter and toasties.

Put the baking tray in the oven for six to eight minutes, until the cheese is bubbling, and serve hot.

Lamb gochujang hotpot with winter vegetables

Lamb breast is not a commonly used cut these days, but it has a superb flavour. Gochujang, for those not familiar with it, is a Korean red chilli paste that is savoury, sweet and spicy. It creates a delicious base for this hotpot and something a little different from the traditional seasoning.

Prep 20 min
Cook 4 hr 20 min
Serves 4-6

3 tbsp plain flour
Salt
1 tsp ground white pepper
700g boned lamb breast, cut into 1cm chunks
2 onions, peeled and quartered
2 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
80g gochujang paste
1½ litres chicken or vegetable stock
2 tsp treacle
2 parsnips, peeled and cut into 2cm chunks
½ swede, peeled and cut into 2cm chunks
2 medium waxy potatoes (charlotte, new, pink fir), peeled and cut into 2cm chunks
4 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced
1 handful coriander, finely chopped
4 tbsp crispy shallots or onions (readymade ones from an Asian food store are fine), to garnish

Heat the oven to 150C (130C fan)/300F/gas 2. Meanwhile, season the flour with salt and the white pepper, then coat the lamb pieces in the flour mixture, put them in a casserole dish, and scatter over the onion and garlic.

Blend the gochujang, stock and treacle until smooth, then put in a saucepan and bring up to a simmer. Pour the mixture over the lamb in the casserole, cover the pot and bake for two hours.

Remove the casserole from the oven, and stir in the parsnips, swede and potatoes. If there is not enough liquid left in the pan to cover the contents, add a little water, then pop the lid back on and bake for another two hours. At this point, the lamb should be very tender – if not, give it another half-hour or so in the oven.

Leave the hotpot to rest for 20 minutes, then serve topped with the spring onions, coriander and crispy shallots.

• Chantelle Nicholson is chef/owner of All’s Well, London E8, and Tredwells, London WC2. Her book, Planted: A Chef’s Show-Stopping Vegan Recipes, is published by Octopus at £25.