Melissa Thompson: 7 New Comfort Foods You Should Try

Our columnist asks chefs and food lovers across the UK for culinary recommendations toward off the February cold

- Melissa Thompson

February is always tough. Maybe it’s because spring is frustratingly close, or perhaps it’s just because it’s the final throes of a long, cold winter, but it’s always the month when I’m most impatient for brighter, warmer days.

But if there’s one thing that last year taught me, it’s that we must find pleasure wherever we can find it. For me, and presumably many of you, that is often in food.

The flavours, memories and comfort found in a bowl of stew, pasta or curry can be as special as a hug from a loved one.

So, what dish do chefs, cooks and foodies turn to when they’re looking for comfort? Here are just a few suggestions.

1 WARAK I’NAB

Joudie Kalla is a London-based chef, supper club host and the author of Palestine on a Plate and Baladi. She also runs online cookery classes (palestineonaplate.com).

‘If I were to die tomorrow, the dish I would want to eat today is warak i’nab. The dish is vine leaves stuffed with minced lamb and Egyptian rice, which is quite sticky, almost like Japanese rice. It comes with lamb cutlets and Middle Eastern courgettes that are also stuffed with rice and meat, and cooked in a lemon and olive oil broth for hours.

‘We eat this for Christmas, for Eid, for birthdays, for any celebration. Whenever our family comes to London from the Middle East there’s always a massive pot of it.

‘Every time I think of it, I feel good, happy and remember my family.’