Covid comfort food: What to eat if you're recovering and need a boost

If you’re stuck at home, recovering from Covid, or in the throes of the lurgy, food might not be at the top of your agenda. But eating well at this time can support your recovery, as well as provide comfort.

What you need are nutritious, warming and satisfying dishes that are easy to prepare. Here are some suggestions: three interesting soups; a tasty baked egg dish ready in 12 minutes, a one-pot vegan lentil stew, and something simple, and spicy, for those whose tastebuds might need stimulating.

Domini Kemp’s flu soup

Domini Kemp’s love of garlic and appreciation of its nutritional properties is well known, and this gentle infusion of garlic, along with fresh ginger, and lots of fresh herbs, is soothing and fragrant.

Here’s how to make it: Peel and finely slice the cloves from two heads of garlic and gently sauté them in olive oil along with a bunch of parsley and five sage leaves, chopped, and a tablespoon of thyme leaves. Add two litres of water and a big knob of ginger, sliced, and simmer for five minutes before taking the pot off the heat and letting the broth infuse for an hour. Reheat to serve, and you can also pimp it up with the addition of a poached egg, a few sprinkles of dried seaweed, and another drizzle of olive oil.

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Lilly Higgins’s carrot and star anise soup

The sweetness of carrots, the richness of butter and cream, and the fragrance of star anise combine harmoniously in this hug in a bowl.

Ingredients
50g butter
2 onions, chopped
6 sprigs thyme
4 whole star anise
2 cloves garlic
850g carrots, peeled and chopped
800ml hot stock
100ml cream
Sea salt and black pepper

Method
1 Melt the butter in a heavy based pan over a medium heat. Add the onions and saute for 5-10 minutes, until soft. Add the thyme, star anise and garlic. Stir for 2 minutes, ensuring the garlic doesn't burn. Add the carrots and hot stock.

2 Simmer for 20-25 minutes until the carrots are tender. Remove the thyme sprigs and star anise.

3 Puree the soup till smooth. Stir through the cream and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Paul Flynn’s cream of white onion, Cheddar and apple soup

You've probably got all the ingredients you need for this tasty soup in your fridge and larder, but if not, the corner shop will have most of them. It takes a while to cook, giving you ample time for a restorative lie down on the sofa while the onions are softening. If your go-to soup in times of sickness must contain chicken, and you're well enough to take on a bit more prep, you can try chef Flynn's Asian accented roast chicken noodle soup by clicking here.

Ingredients
80g butter
4 large onions, peeled and thinly sliced
Good sprig fresh thyme
750ml chicken stock
250ml cream
150ml apple juice
1 tsp English mustard
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
100g Cheddar cheese, grated

Method
1 Melt the butter in a large heavy based saucepan with a tight-fitting lid and, once melted, add the onions and thyme, stirring to coat.

2 Reduce the heat right down, cover with the lid and cook for 30-40 minutes, until the onions are soft, melting and tender.

3 Pour the stock into the onions and bring to the boil.

4 Add the cream, apple juice, mustard and bring back to a simmer.

5 Cook gently for another 10 minutes.

6 Season, remove the thyme and ladle into warmed serving bowls with the Cheddar cheese sprinkled on top.

Paul Flynn’s baked eggs with chorizo and Parmesan

Once your appetite is a bit more robust, and soup just won’t cut it, these baked eggs are tasty and need very few ingredients. If you don’t have chorizo, substitute cooked bacon lardons, or add a few cherry tomatoes to each ramekin.

Ingredients
Serves four
8 medium free-range eggs
12 thinly sliced rings from a small chorizo sausage
A little melted butter to coat your ramekins
2 tbsp cream per ramekin
A little grated Parmesan to go on top of each one
Salt and black pepper

Method
1 Heat an oven to 180 Celsius, or equivalent. Brush the ramekins with a little melted butter.

2 Crack one egg into each ramekin, drop in the chorizo, then crack the other egg on top.

3 Season each ramekin, then spoon the cream on top. Sprinkle the Parmesan over the top and bake for 12 minutes, until there is just a little jiggle in the middle. Serve with hot toast.

Indy Power’s smokey lentil stew

Food writer Indy Power shared her recipe for this delicious vegan dish with us during Food Month at The Irish Times and it proved to be incredibly popular. Lentils are a good source of B vitamins, iron, magnesium, potassium, and zinc.

Ingredients
Serves 4
1 white onion
2 cloves garlic
2 medium carrots
2 medium potatoes
2 sticks celery
1 red pepper
30ml olive oil
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp regular paprika
2 tbsp tomato paste
200g black Beluga lentils ( you can use ordinary green lentils too)
1 ltr stock
Salt and freshly ground pepper
75g vegan creme fraiche
Small bunch chopped parsley, for serving

Method
1 Peel and finely dice the onion. Peel and mince the garlic. Peel the carrots and potatoes and chop them into cubes. Dice the celery and pepper.

2 Add the olive oil to a large pot on medium heat. Add the onions, celery, carrots, potatoes and peppers and cook for about five minutes, stirring often, until starting to soften.

3 Add the garlic, paprika and smoked paprika and cook for 1-2 minutes. Then add the tomato paste, stir well and cook for another minute.

4 Add the lentils and the stock and bring to the boil. Then turn the heat down and let it simmer for about 25-30 minutes, until the lentils are tender and the stew is nice and thick.

5 Season well with salt and pepper. Stir the creme fraiche into the pot or let everybody serve themselves a dollop. Serve with some parsley on top.

Paul Flynn’s determined woman’s curry

It's January and some of us are making vegetables the star of the plate, others are watching what they eat for other reasons. Many of us just want something quick and nutritious for dinner - and if it will stimulate tired tastebuds that might have taken a Covid knocking, all the better. You can adjust the spice level of this vegetable curry (for which it is perfectly fine to use frozen vegetables), to your personal taste. This one's ready in 25 minutes, start to finish.

Ingredients
Serves four
1 tbsp sunflower oil
2 cloves garlic, grated
1 large (3cm) knob ginger, peeled and grated
2 tsp curry powder
1 onion, finely chopped
½ a small red chilli, finely diced
200g red lentils
1 carrot, chopped into slices
1 cauliflower, broken into florets
1 veg stock cube
700 mls water
1 x 400g can low fat coconut milk
Bunch coriander, chopped

Method
1 Put the oil, grated ginger and garlic into a casserole dish and fry gently for one minute.

2 Add the onion, chilli, lentils and curry powder and mix together and cook over a low heat for three minutes.

3 Add the carrot and cauliflower, stock cube and water.

4 Bring to boil and simmer for 20 minutes, until vegetables are cooked.

5 Turn off the heat, add the coconut milk and stir it through.

6 Season and serve with plenty of chopped coriander.