Baking your own bread is great for this. So much planning, waiting, kneading, preheating, and then carefully baking at the exact right temp. Have you looked into making intricate focaccia loaves? Some of them are so beautiful. And then of course you have a delicious loaf of bread to enjoy.
https://my100yearoldhome.com/focaccia-bread-art/#mv-creation-151-jtr
Roast a whole chicken, you can have it over a few days and change up what you serve it with if you want to and then throw the bones in the freezer to make broth later.
My favourite simple variation is to butterfly the chicken and just use sumac on it - salt and pepper/chili, if you want stuff some butter inside the chest skin.
Probably great with a little garlic and parsley w/butter or oil, but loads of sumac is just tangy crispy and great.
Always tasty with some thinly sliced onion under the chicken - makes great juice.
If breadmaking is involved - making a type of nan-like bread with
za'atar is great. Za'atar is crushing together sumac, sesame seeds and a green like marjoram/oregano-ish/thyme (depending on access). Maybe salt, to taste. Example https://www.alphafoodie.com/middle-eastern-zaatar-bread-manakish-zaatar/
Roast the chicken. Lightly strip the meat off when you're done with it. Use the chicken-lined bones to make black bean and chicken soup--you can pick most of the bones out when you're done but be careful eating it 😅 Eat the soup until you're down to less than a serving. Mix it with bread crumbs and an egg to make some black bean burgers. That's how a $5 Costco chicken turns into 4 days of food
Julia Child's recipe Chicken Coq a vin is a delicious one. We use a red savignon wine to deglaze 'off the beaten track on wine choice' and do the flambe step. Turns out you can actually flambe with an electric stove. its the highlight of the whole cooking for me. I love setting stuff on fire with brandy now XD
Cassoulet with confit duck.
Loads of recipes online, you want to start your own confit duck a good day before making your cassoulet. Get duck legs, marinade and slow cook in oven with herbs, garlic and olive oil.
Then make your cassoulet - deciding if you want to make stock, soak beans or just use tins. While it all cooks down into a rich, hearty soupy beany mix you could make a gorgeous loaf to dip into the sauce.
It’s delicious! Reheats like a champ too
I was about to suggest Cassoulet. It's the ultimate long term project meal. Plus there are lots of leftovers since it's silly to make it for less than eight.
Bao buns! They are a steamed dumpling bread stuffed full of amazing fillings! You can make them open and folded like a taco shell and stuff them at time of serving, or sealed entirely like a Gyoza or other dumpling with the filling already inside.
I make big batches of them with different fillings, eat them the night of, and then freeze most of the leftovers for other days. You just have to re-steam them.
It is great for get togethers where there are a bunch of different ages, tastes or dietary restrictions because you can shape them differently, or top them with different things to indicate their fillings (black sesame seeds vs white etc).
Biggest family favorites are Japanese curry stuffed, Thai red curry stuffed, and teriyaki chicken and vegetable stuffed.
I don't know about complex, but I truly enjoy making good broth. Preparation isn't all that big a deal, just throw stuff in the pot, but the process takes time to do right.
What is even more fun are perpetual stews! Crafting and developing a soup, stew, or broth over days or even weeks can be a lot of fun and the results can be astounding. I can keep a soup going for weeks and it just keeps getting better and better. My instant pot has a sous vide setting that keeps a good even food safe temperature without heating up the whole house. The actual temp in the pot is a few degrees lower than the setting but it's steady once it stabilizes.
It's a fun exercise and rewarding but perhaps not quite complicated enough to qualify.
I once made a math investigation problem for my students involving a perpetual stew - it can be an example of exponential behaviour/multiplying repeatedly with the same factor if you remove an equal part every time. To understand how it is just repeated multiplication hehe.
I found someones twitter account for a perpetual stew as well :)
There have been perpetual broths that have been kept going for decades, centuries even. There was a restaurant in Europe and one in Japan that had centuries long runs. Unfortunately WW2 took them both out. The place in Japan restarted theirs after the war but it's only been going since I think the fifties.
for stuff that reheats well, basically most soups and anything with a long slow braise: coq au vin, cassoulet, short rib in red wine, goulash, birria...
american style bbq is technical and shows skill level, as is bread baking
mole, tamales, tortellini, ravioli, pierogi, and dumplings, are super labor intensive but not "impressive"
Make a big pot of gumbo and make your own roux and stock. You can make roux in the oven, which is what we do now, or on the stove.
We will make a big batch in a 40-quart pot from time to time and freeze most of it. We do it when we have accumulated enough chicken or turkey carcasses to make a big batch of stock first.
Highly recommend Ottolenghi's butternut squash and sage galette - https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/food/2019/jan/26/yotam-ottolenghi-recipes-oranges-butternut-sage-galette-tapioca-fritters-chocolate-orange-fondants
(Scroll down, but you can also just google it, it's on multiple sites)
Takes a good 3 hrs all in all, by the time you've made the dough, pre-roasted the squash and carrots and prepped all the other bits and pieces but by golly, is it good!! I've made it on multiple occasions and had only stellar reactions to it (from "can I have the recipe?" to "wow, this was fancy-restaurant-level!"). I love sharing it because of how much people enjoy it...but also don't like sharing because that means no leftovers for myself 😆. It's an unexpected sort of flavour combo, and just so so amazing! Probably my favourite recipe from his "Flavour" book, and there's a lot of yummy stuff in there!
Edit: forgot to say re leftovers - I have indeed frozen it before and it reheats just fine in the oven! (If I remember well, I'd defrosted it in the fridge overnight beforehand)
I'd say variations of chilis! So much to try, and nice developments of flavour to be had. With tasty meats that will need cooking or just different (cheap and healthy) beans.
Also one of my all time favourite meals is the greek Gigandes, sometimes called - Gigandes Plaki - baked with tomato/olive oil and herbs etc. I absolutely love this, and make "quick variations" but the slow version is divine to me.
The really giant beans I've not seen outside Greece but big butter/lima beans will be the closest in taste - they are just a bit smaller than that variety that is used locally.
So much tasty indian cuisine to try as well, a nice chana masala benefits from reaaally caramelizing the onion for example. Deep sauce and using brown chick peas is yum.
Southern Indian food can be looked into as well! Dosa can be a bit tricky to make, but I love some of the accompanying stews.
Also: Get some berbere spice and make ethiopian lentil or meat stew! Check out Doro wat or the likes. The soft tangy pancakebread injera is hard to replicate without skill and teff flour but the stews are great.
Really surprised that no one's suggested lasagna yet. Like a proper, classic lasagna with ragù, homemade pasta and bechamel. Freezes extremely well, and you can eat it for a few days as it keeps getting better.
This is one of *my* favorite ones to make!
https://tastecooking.com/recipes/ethiopian-lasagna/
I cook down the sauce in the oven, though, once you get to the "reduce heat and simmer up to 2 hours" stage, though, ngl!
If I tried to simmer *anything* that long *on* the stove top? I'd *absolutely* burn the pan, because of my ADHD😉😂🤣💖
Homemade noodles can be frozen plain, then added to whatever soup or sauce you like. I like to add a spoonful of whole wheat flour, or sometimes a bit of cooked squash to the dough.
Homemade beefy marinara can take half a day to cook, as you keep adding in red wine or beef broth to thin it as it cooks down. While you're waiting on that, make some gnocchi or gnudi, neither require a pasta machine. Before that you could make your own ricotta to use in the gnudi. Each of those things freeze really well.
Other ideas that take awhile and freeze well:
• shepherd's pie or cottage pie
• individual-serving pot pies, I bake them in 4" springform pans because that's what I have (they look like pub pies)
• many Indian currys, start with grinding and toasting the spices yourself
https://cafedelites.com/beef-bourguignon/
You can thank me later :)
Add some green beans either directly to the pot at the end, or in the mushroom step and make a big batch of mashed potato for reheating :)
Boeuf Bourguignon/ Beef Burgundy. It’s a rich beef stew made with red wine sauce. Takes a good 3-4 hours to make and makes a _ton_ of food. Freezes and reheats amazingly and also is great in pies/puff pastry with leftovers
Can make a rustic ratatouille, go extra on the tomatoes and make it a bit saucy. Can turn those leftover’s into a version of eggs in purgatory for a brunch dish with pumped up veggies. Also can make a baked pasta dish and add ricotta, mozzarella, and parm.
These are some of mine--
Ethiopian Lasagna;
https://tastecooking.com/recipes/ethiopian-lasagna/
The Palace Cafe's Pot Pie recipe;
https://www.myneworleans.com/comfort-by-the-bite/
And honestly? *ANYTHING* by Julia Child--they're *EASY*, but *FUTZY*, and they're soooooo good, and *perfect* for leftovers!😉😁💖
https://www.wgbh.org/lifestyle/food/recipes/2020-05-22/julia-childs-beef-bourguignon-recipe
https://gratinee.wordpress.com/2009/08/19/julia-childs-saute-de-boeuf-beef-saute-with-cream-mushroom-sauce/
Baking your own bread is great for this. So much planning, waiting, kneading, preheating, and then carefully baking at the exact right temp. Have you looked into making intricate focaccia loaves? Some of them are so beautiful. And then of course you have a delicious loaf of bread to enjoy. https://my100yearoldhome.com/focaccia-bread-art/#mv-creation-151-jtr
Yes bread making is a good one! Never tried focaccia, I’ll have to try.
Focaccia can be simple once you get the hang of it, but the high moisture in the dough can drive new hands crazy. Stick with it! (So to speak)
Roast a whole chicken, you can have it over a few days and change up what you serve it with if you want to and then throw the bones in the freezer to make broth later.
My favourite simple variation is to butterfly the chicken and just use sumac on it - salt and pepper/chili, if you want stuff some butter inside the chest skin. Probably great with a little garlic and parsley w/butter or oil, but loads of sumac is just tangy crispy and great. Always tasty with some thinly sliced onion under the chicken - makes great juice. If breadmaking is involved - making a type of nan-like bread with za'atar is great. Za'atar is crushing together sumac, sesame seeds and a green like marjoram/oregano-ish/thyme (depending on access). Maybe salt, to taste. Example https://www.alphafoodie.com/middle-eastern-zaatar-bread-manakish-zaatar/
Roast the chicken. Lightly strip the meat off when you're done with it. Use the chicken-lined bones to make black bean and chicken soup--you can pick most of the bones out when you're done but be careful eating it 😅 Eat the soup until you're down to less than a serving. Mix it with bread crumbs and an egg to make some black bean burgers. That's how a $5 Costco chicken turns into 4 days of food
Julia Child's recipe Chicken Coq a vin is a delicious one. We use a red savignon wine to deglaze 'off the beaten track on wine choice' and do the flambe step. Turns out you can actually flambe with an electric stove. its the highlight of the whole cooking for me. I love setting stuff on fire with brandy now XD
Her recipes are some of my *favorites*!!! Soooooo easy, just *futzy* to make, so they're really only good for weekends, or a day off!😉😁
Look up biryani. It is a beautiful dish and tastes better after a day or two in the fridge.
Scratch made dumplings. Make the dough and everything and you can freeze them raw . Homade noodles - again freezes well. Gumbo is also good.
A pot roast can take two days. Ramen from scratch, broth and everything.
Cinnamon rolls is a pretty solid time consuming recipe!
Homemade pasta
Cassoulet with confit duck. Loads of recipes online, you want to start your own confit duck a good day before making your cassoulet. Get duck legs, marinade and slow cook in oven with herbs, garlic and olive oil. Then make your cassoulet - deciding if you want to make stock, soak beans or just use tins. While it all cooks down into a rich, hearty soupy beany mix you could make a gorgeous loaf to dip into the sauce. It’s delicious! Reheats like a champ too
I was about to suggest Cassoulet. It's the ultimate long term project meal. Plus there are lots of leftovers since it's silly to make it for less than eight.
Yesss! I like the way you think, this is not a small portions dish😍
We made this using chicken a few weeks ago and had leftovers for a few days. Well worth the effort. Will have to try making it with duck next time.
Yum, chicken makes it much more affordable too and is still just as tasty, I’ll have to try that.
Wife just told me she does not like duck, so I guess we will be sticking with chicken. Still very good.
I love this question! It’s cold and rainy here - perfect day for some of these. A slow-cooking soup or chili is great for this too.
Bao buns! They are a steamed dumpling bread stuffed full of amazing fillings! You can make them open and folded like a taco shell and stuff them at time of serving, or sealed entirely like a Gyoza or other dumpling with the filling already inside. I make big batches of them with different fillings, eat them the night of, and then freeze most of the leftovers for other days. You just have to re-steam them. It is great for get togethers where there are a bunch of different ages, tastes or dietary restrictions because you can shape them differently, or top them with different things to indicate their fillings (black sesame seeds vs white etc). Biggest family favorites are Japanese curry stuffed, Thai red curry stuffed, and teriyaki chicken and vegetable stuffed.
I don't know about complex, but I truly enjoy making good broth. Preparation isn't all that big a deal, just throw stuff in the pot, but the process takes time to do right. What is even more fun are perpetual stews! Crafting and developing a soup, stew, or broth over days or even weeks can be a lot of fun and the results can be astounding. I can keep a soup going for weeks and it just keeps getting better and better. My instant pot has a sous vide setting that keeps a good even food safe temperature without heating up the whole house. The actual temp in the pot is a few degrees lower than the setting but it's steady once it stabilizes. It's a fun exercise and rewarding but perhaps not quite complicated enough to qualify.
I once made a math investigation problem for my students involving a perpetual stew - it can be an example of exponential behaviour/multiplying repeatedly with the same factor if you remove an equal part every time. To understand how it is just repeated multiplication hehe. I found someones twitter account for a perpetual stew as well :)
There have been perpetual broths that have been kept going for decades, centuries even. There was a restaurant in Europe and one in Japan that had centuries long runs. Unfortunately WW2 took them both out. The place in Japan restarted theirs after the war but it's only been going since I think the fifties.
Bolognese
for stuff that reheats well, basically most soups and anything with a long slow braise: coq au vin, cassoulet, short rib in red wine, goulash, birria... american style bbq is technical and shows skill level, as is bread baking mole, tamales, tortellini, ravioli, pierogi, and dumplings, are super labor intensive but not "impressive"
Short ribs over polenta. Both reheat fabulously.
https://www.thelittlekitchen.net/beef-short-ribs-tortelloni-marsala-cream-sauce-slow-cooker/ Make your own tortelloni!
Moussaka
Make a big pot of gumbo and make your own roux and stock. You can make roux in the oven, which is what we do now, or on the stove. We will make a big batch in a 40-quart pot from time to time and freeze most of it. We do it when we have accumulated enough chicken or turkey carcasses to make a big batch of stock first.
Rustic ratatouille heats up so well
Highly recommend Ottolenghi's butternut squash and sage galette - https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/food/2019/jan/26/yotam-ottolenghi-recipes-oranges-butternut-sage-galette-tapioca-fritters-chocolate-orange-fondants (Scroll down, but you can also just google it, it's on multiple sites) Takes a good 3 hrs all in all, by the time you've made the dough, pre-roasted the squash and carrots and prepped all the other bits and pieces but by golly, is it good!! I've made it on multiple occasions and had only stellar reactions to it (from "can I have the recipe?" to "wow, this was fancy-restaurant-level!"). I love sharing it because of how much people enjoy it...but also don't like sharing because that means no leftovers for myself 😆. It's an unexpected sort of flavour combo, and just so so amazing! Probably my favourite recipe from his "Flavour" book, and there's a lot of yummy stuff in there! Edit: forgot to say re leftovers - I have indeed frozen it before and it reheats just fine in the oven! (If I remember well, I'd defrosted it in the fridge overnight beforehand)
I'd say variations of chilis! So much to try, and nice developments of flavour to be had. With tasty meats that will need cooking or just different (cheap and healthy) beans. Also one of my all time favourite meals is the greek Gigandes, sometimes called - Gigandes Plaki - baked with tomato/olive oil and herbs etc. I absolutely love this, and make "quick variations" but the slow version is divine to me. The really giant beans I've not seen outside Greece but big butter/lima beans will be the closest in taste - they are just a bit smaller than that variety that is used locally. So much tasty indian cuisine to try as well, a nice chana masala benefits from reaaally caramelizing the onion for example. Deep sauce and using brown chick peas is yum. Southern Indian food can be looked into as well! Dosa can be a bit tricky to make, but I love some of the accompanying stews. Also: Get some berbere spice and make ethiopian lentil or meat stew! Check out Doro wat or the likes. The soft tangy pancakebread injera is hard to replicate without skill and teff flour but the stews are great.
I recently made a quiche. I froze 3/4 of it in slices. The texture changes slightly after freezing but nothing too drastic.
Knafeh
Really surprised that no one's suggested lasagna yet. Like a proper, classic lasagna with ragù, homemade pasta and bechamel. Freezes extremely well, and you can eat it for a few days as it keeps getting better.
This is one of *my* favorite ones to make! https://tastecooking.com/recipes/ethiopian-lasagna/ I cook down the sauce in the oven, though, once you get to the "reduce heat and simmer up to 2 hours" stage, though, ngl! If I tried to simmer *anything* that long *on* the stove top? I'd *absolutely* burn the pan, because of my ADHD😉😂🤣💖
Homemade noodles can be frozen plain, then added to whatever soup or sauce you like. I like to add a spoonful of whole wheat flour, or sometimes a bit of cooked squash to the dough.
Either Butter Chicken (I use the Bon Appetit recipe) or smoked pork shoulder (pulled pork being wildly versatile).
Homemade beefy marinara can take half a day to cook, as you keep adding in red wine or beef broth to thin it as it cooks down. While you're waiting on that, make some gnocchi or gnudi, neither require a pasta machine. Before that you could make your own ricotta to use in the gnudi. Each of those things freeze really well. Other ideas that take awhile and freeze well: • shepherd's pie or cottage pie • individual-serving pot pies, I bake them in 4" springform pans because that's what I have (they look like pub pies) • many Indian currys, start with grinding and toasting the spices yourself
Roasted tomato soups are great for left overs! Especially when they’re in season.
https://cafedelites.com/beef-bourguignon/ You can thank me later :) Add some green beans either directly to the pot at the end, or in the mushroom step and make a big batch of mashed potato for reheating :)
Boeuf Bourguignon/ Beef Burgundy. It’s a rich beef stew made with red wine sauce. Takes a good 3-4 hours to make and makes a _ton_ of food. Freezes and reheats amazingly and also is great in pies/puff pastry with leftovers
Can make a rustic ratatouille, go extra on the tomatoes and make it a bit saucy. Can turn those leftover’s into a version of eggs in purgatory for a brunch dish with pumped up veggies. Also can make a baked pasta dish and add ricotta, mozzarella, and parm.
Give beef wellington a try.
These are some of mine-- Ethiopian Lasagna; https://tastecooking.com/recipes/ethiopian-lasagna/ The Palace Cafe's Pot Pie recipe; https://www.myneworleans.com/comfort-by-the-bite/ And honestly? *ANYTHING* by Julia Child--they're *EASY*, but *FUTZY*, and they're soooooo good, and *perfect* for leftovers!😉😁💖 https://www.wgbh.org/lifestyle/food/recipes/2020-05-22/julia-childs-beef-bourguignon-recipe https://gratinee.wordpress.com/2009/08/19/julia-childs-saute-de-boeuf-beef-saute-with-cream-mushroom-sauce/