One pot wonders: simple, warming, cook-ahead meals to feed a hungry family

Life is complicated enough without making a mountain out of a mealtime. Or so food writer Hattie Ellis has discovered. After years of happy singledom, she met and married her husband, Tim, in her early 40s and was catapulted into running a household that included three teenage boys. Even though she had spent her adult life testing recipes and exploring ingredients for a living, this was different. “Suddenly,” she recalls ruefully, “I was at the business end of cooking.”

Stews can be eaten on their own or used as a sauce for pasta or mashed potatosCREDIT: MARTIN TURZAK / ALAMY

Do I hear hollow laughter? Those of us who already cater for a family know the challenges. And Hattie’s solution is a time-honoured one, batch cooking dishes and concocting one-pots, combined with determination not to make feeding the hordes into a chore. “I still want to enjoy cooking and I find there are two corners in the week when I can put the radio on and make a stew, use the bones to make stock, some soup, a crumble, maybe a curry.”

Soups and stews can be made ahead and reheated for a quick and nutritious midweek mealCREDIT: TESSA TRAEGER

Now she has compiled the recipes into a book, The One Pot Cook, a collection she describes as “almost-ready-meals” that can be dished out throughout the week. Not every pot holds a complete meal – some, like the Peposo below, need a salad and potatoes – but the point is that they don’t need much else to make a good supper.

Add mashed potato, pasta, polenta or crusty bread to make a stew more substantialCREDIT: HELEN CATHCART

Adaptability is key. “Some dishes can be eaten on their own or as a side dish. And the leftovers are brilliant – so this works for single people as well as families.” 

Ingredients are not set in stone, either, as “people have different things they like in their fridge, or in their veg box”. The bottom line is that a good one-pot is a well-tempered dish, “not reliant on you being super accurate on timings or quantities”. It’s also great for showcasing cheap cuts of meat, and making them go further. Time, it turns out, is the magic ingredient. “The French make their coq au vin the day before, because the flavour molecules develop over time – like a curry. So cooking ahead isn’t just convenient – food tastes better for it, with time for the ingredients to meld together.”