Comfort food: for some, that will mean the food we eat alone, standing in front of an open fridge with no one else’s needs to satisfy other than our own. It can be a completely gratifying meal made of picky bits: a hunk of cheddar with a spoon of raspberry jam, say, or a cold leftover roast potato splashed with Maggi sauce and topped with a thick slice of salted butter, or an anchovy and draped over a pickle. However, we can’t really rely on a fridge picnic when we’ve got company, so I asked the test kitchen team what comfort food they might make for friends and family, and it’s clear that what makes us happiest is fried, sandwiched, dipped or eaten with our hands. Paper towels at the ready.
Curried fried chicken with sweet mango relish and celeriac slaw (pictured top)
For all-out-finger-licking-no-one-is-looking-eat-with-your-hands food, not much beats fried chicken. This is my colleague Chaya’s go-to, though she does insist on using a bowl rather than a bucket. The slaw can also be made with cabbage or carrots instead of the celeriac, if you prefer (or buy some ready-made).
Prep 40 min
Marinate 1 hr+
Cook 35 min
Serves 6-8
800g boneless, skinless chicken thighs, each cut in half
200g plain yoghurt
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tbsp garlic granules (simply omit if you don’t have any)
1 tbsp madras curry powder
Fine sea salt and black pepper
600ml sunflower oil, for frying
Mayonnaise, to serve
For the coating
360g plain flour
120g cornflour (or potato starch)
2 tsp baking powder
For the mango relish
160g sweet mango chutney – we like Geeta’s
40g cornichons, roughly chopped, plus 2 tbsp of the brine for the slaw
3 tbsp fresh lime juice (ie, from 2-3 limes)
For the slaw
150g celeriac (ie, half a small one), peeled and julienned
1 small red onion, peeled and thinly sliced (50g)
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 red chilli, stalk, seeds and pith discarded, flesh thinly sliced
Put the chicken, yoghurt, 100ml water, eggs, garlic granules (if using) and curry powder in a medium bowl, then add a teaspoon and a half of salt and a good grind of pepper. Mix well to coat, then leave to marinate at room temperature for at least an hour (or refrigerated overnight; if marinating overnight, make sure you let it come back to room temperature for an hour before frying).
Sift all the coating ingredients and a teaspoon and a half of fine sea salt into a large, high-sided tray and mix well with a spoon. Lift the chicken pieces one by one out of the marinade, keeping as much of the marinade on the meat as possible, then dredge in the flour mixture, pressing it down well, so it clings to the chicken in craggy bits. Repeat with the remaining chicken, then leave all the pieces in the flour tray, so the marinade can absorb as much of the flour mixture as possible: you don’t want any bald patches.
Put the oil in a large frying pan on a medium-high heat and, once hot, fry the chicken in three or four batches for five to seven minutes on each side, until golden. Lift out with a slotted spoon or spider and drain on kitchen paper.
To make the relish, mix the chutney, chopped cornichons and lime juice in a medium bowl. To make the slaw, mix the pickle brine, celeriac, red onion, lime juice, chilli, a quarter-teaspoon of salt and a good grind of black pepper in a medium bowl, then set aside for five minutes, to soften.
Serve the fried chicken with a generous dollop each of the mayo and relish, and the slaw piled up on the side.
Milli’s cheesy corn dip with padron pepper salsa
We knew we’d found a kindred spirit in Milli, our new head at the test kitchen, when she described this Korean dip in all its molten, cheesy glory. She recommends serving it with a pile of unsalted tortilla chips and a bottle of your favourite hot sauce, and you can’t really argue with that.
Prep 15 min
Cook 20 min
Serves 4
200g frozen sweetcorn, defrosted and roughly blitzed in food processor
70g low-moisture mozzarella, grated
70g mature cheddar, grated
½ tsp cornflour
1 large jalapeño pepper, finely chopped (25g)
2 spring onions (60g), trimmed and finely sliced, white and green parts kept separate
50g mayonnaise
70g creme fraiche
Flaked sea salt
For the salsa
Olive oil
130g padron peppers, stalks removed
1 lime, zest finely grated, to get ½ tsp, and juiced, to get 1½ tsp
10g coriander leaves, finely chopped
1 large jalapeño pepper, finely chopped (25g)
To serve
Hot sauce of your choice – we like Cholula
170g unsalted blue corn tortilla chips, or any other unsalted tortilla chips
Start with the salsa. Heat the grill to its highest setting. Put a tablespoon of olive oil in a nonstick, ovenproof 22cm frying pan on a medium-high heat and, once it’s hot, add the peppers and fry, turning occasionally, for two to three minutes, until blistered but not completely soft. Transfer to a bowl and leave to cool.
Meanwhile, make the dip. In a medium bowl, mix the corn, both cheeses, cornflour, jalapeño, spring onion whites, mayonnaise, creme fraiche and a teaspoon of salt. Put the corn mixture in the same frying pan and put under the grill for 13-15 minutes, until bubbling with dark patches, then set aside for five minutes.
While the dip is grilling, finish the salsa. Roughly chop the blistered peppers (remove the seeds, if you like) and put in a bowl with the spring onion greens, lime zest and juice, coriander, jalapeño and a quarter-teaspoon of salt. Mix well and spoon a tablespoon of salsa over the dip. Drizzle with hot sauce to taste, and serve with cold beers and the tortilla chips and remaining salsa alongside.
Fried harissa mackerel buns with chimichurri
Fried food? Tick. Eaten by hand? Tick. Eminently versatile depending on whatever condiments you have in your fridge? Tick. Mayonnaise and chimichurri are the go-tos for test kitchen development chef Jake, but all manner of other things will work well here instead – for example, some Greek yoghurt spiked with any chilli sauce. To get the crispness you need on the mackerel will create a fair amount of smoke, so open the windows or turn on the extraction fan before you start grilling.
Prep 15 min
Cook 15 min
Serves 2
For the mackerel buns
50g hispi or white cabbage, thinly shredded
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp olive oil
2 tsp harissa
2 smoked mackerel fillets
2 floury white rolls, split
2 tbsp mayonnaise
For the chimichurri
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
½ tsp dried mint
½ tsp dried oregano
Fine sea salt
25g flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
25g coriander, roughly chopped
½ tsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
First, make the chimichurri. Put the garlic, dried herbs and an eighth of a teaspoon of salt in a mortar and bash to a uniform, khaki-coloured paste. Add the fresh herbs and vinegar, bash again until the herbs break down to a mulch, then stir through the oil. (Alternatively, do this in the small bowl of a food processor.)
Mix the cabbage and lemon juice in a small bowl.
Put the olive oil in a large, nonstick frying pan on a medium-high heat. Add half the harissa, followed by the mackerel skin side down, and fry, flipping over halfway through, for three minutes in all, until crisp and golden. Transfer the fish skin side down to a tray and spread the rest of the harissa on top.
Put the buns cut side down in the same pan and fry for 90 seconds, so they toast and soak up the remaining oil. Spread the mayonnaise and chimichurri evenly across the toasted buns. Cut each mackerel fillet in half widthways, and put two half fillets in each bun, stack the cabbage on top and serve.
