Our new favourite winter warmer, which we had as tonight’s evening meal. Try it. You will need:

• can of chopped tomatoes
• can of pinto beans
• can of butter beans
• diced onions
• carrots
• parsnips
• potatoes
• swede
• 2 pints vegetable stock (we used Swiss bouillon powder)

We have used haricot beans, cannellini beans and chick peas in previous versions of our vegetarian casserole. Most beans seem to work well and are an excellent substitute for beef. Their taste and texture are superb.

Quantities and types of the vegetables can be varied according to taste and number of people you are serving. We make enough so that we can reheat it a couple of days later — something to look forward to!

Today, we added a spoon or two of sun-dried tomato puree. And we also added a chopped courgette to the mix, plus a handful of split red lentils to thicken and add extra flavour. Oh, and some garlic; we use Asda’s own brand ‘easy garlic’, which comes ready-prepared in a jar, but you can buy whole cloves and prepare your own if added authenticality is a big deal for you. (We have done in the past but have found little difference.)

Finally we added a bouquet garni. If you don’t have one, please do not cheat by throwing in a tea bag: it will not work. Sprinkle some herbs in instead. Basil, for example; you can never go wrong with basil.

After seven hours or thereabouts in the slow cooker, all that was needed was dumplings.

Now, what could be easier to make than that? Excellent noms indeed.