A lot of my cooking involves stews, soups, and chilis, especially in the winter. There are soooo many great recipes, I'll just post a few for now.
1. Nigel Slater's beef/beer/onion stew is excellent. Serve with boiled potatoes (slightly smashed) and homemade applesauce. This recipe is soooo good. Peeling & chopping the apples and onions does take some time, but it's well worth it. One hint: The stew is best not on the day you make it, but on the second/third days, after it has rested for a while.
http://www.lifestylefood.com.au/recipes/12123/a-simple-stew-of-onions-beer-and-beef
2. My other favorite beef stew is
solyanka, from Darra Goldstein's book The Georgian Feast. What distinguishes this stew is the addition of dill pickles, capers, and vinegar. It sounds odd, but it's so good. I always serve this over homemade polenta, and it's a wonderful combination:
Georgian-Style Solyanka
Ingredients: 2 pounds beef or bison sirloin, rib eye, or top round
Salt & pepper
2 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons butter or olive oil
2 medium onions, peeled & coarsely chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled & chopped
1/2 cup tomato puree
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce mixed w/ hot sauce
1-1/2 cup dill pickles, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons capers, optional
1-1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
3/4 cup water or broth
Directions: 1. Brown the Meat: Preheat the oven to 300˚F. Sprinkle the meat salt pepper, & flour. Stir to evenly coat. Heat the butter or oil in a large dutch oven (ovenproof pan with lid) on stove over medium heat. Add meat and cook until it is brown on both sides, 5-6 min. Stir in onions & garlic then cook, stirring occasionally until soft, 6-10 min. Add the remaining ingredients & mix well. 2. Bake the Dish: Cover the dish and bake in the oven for 2 hours, stirring halfway, until meat is tender.
3. There's also a different type of chili that's well worth trying, if you haven't already: Cincinnati Chili. Apparently this is a regional speciality in Cincinnati; it calls for less tomatoes and more spices than regular chili. The dish was actually created by Lebanese immigrants to the U.S., and the flavor profile is clearly Mediterranean. I love this chili, and make it every winter. The recipe calls for ground lamb; I substitute grass-fed ground beef, as I don't care for lamb. I'm sure ground turkey or bison would work just as well. I always use homemade beef broth with this, but most likely a good-quality commercial broth would be very good too.
http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/cincinnati-chili
I have lots of good vegetarian recipes as well--will try to post some later if I have time.