Slow-baked sticky pork ribs with quivering fat; oxtail so tender its meat falls from the bone or chickpeas puttering away on the stove on a snowy afternoon are just a few of the great pleasures that go hand-in-hand with slow cooking. In our house, this is very much what we do at the weekends, leaving things to take their own course while everyone gets on with other things.

Chickpea and spinach gratin

A heart-warming, meat-free recipe, as cheap as chips.

Serves 4 as main dish

dried chickpeas - 250g
olive oil - 2 tbs
red onions - 4, peeled and roughly chopped
garlic - 2 cloves, thinly sliced
flour - 1 tbs
spinach - 450g
vegetable or chicken stock - 250ml
crème fraîche - 300g
freshly grated Spenwood, Pecorino or Parmesan cheese - 80-90g or a couple of good handfuls
soft white breadcrumbs - about 50g, or a handful

Soak the chickpeas overnight in cold water. Drain and tip them into a deep pan. Cover with fresh water and bring to the boil. Scoop off the froth that rises to the surface, then turn the heat down so that the water simmers merrily. Leave them to cook, watching the water level carefully and topping it up from time to time. When they are tender, after about 45-60 minutes cooking, drain.

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4. Warm the olive oil in a roasting tin or large cast-iron casserole over a moderate heat, then add the onion and garlic. Leave them to cook, with the occasional stir, until the onion and garlic have softened and taken on a little colour. Expect this to take a good 15 minutes. Stir in the flour.

Meanwhile, wash the spinach thoroughly, then, while it is still wet, steam in a covered pan for 2 or 3 minutes until the leaves have relaxed. Drain and squeeze the moisture out.

Pour the drained chickpeas, stock and crème fraîche into the onions, season with salt and freshly ground pepper, then turn up the heat and bring almost to the boil. Add the spinach, pulling it into pieces as you go, then stir and tip everything into a large baking dish or roasting tin. Strew with the grated cheese and breadcrumbs then cook for 45 minutes or so until a golden crust has formed.

Serve in deep bowls to hold the juices.

Pork ribs with aniseed and garlic

Soft, slow-baked, sticky ribs to pick up with your fingers. I tend to pass a bowl of brown rice round with mine.

Serves 4

pork ribs in the piece - 1.5kg
seasalt flakes - 2 tbs
five-spice powder - 2 tsp
onions - 4 medium
olive oil
garlic - 3 large cloves
ginger - a large thumb
chopped tomatoes - 1 x 400g can
dark soy sauce - 2 tbs
thick honey - 1 heaped tbs

Peel and roughly chop the onions, put them in a large pan with a glug of oil then add the peeled and chopped garlic.

Peel and shred the ginger into fine matchsticks, then stir into the softening onions together with the chopped tomatoes, soy sauce and honey, and seasoning of pepper and salt. Bring to the boil, turn the heat down and leave to simmer for 10 minutes. Pour the sauce over the ribs and toss them in it. Cover with foil, then bake for an hour and a half until the fat is soft and the meat is tender. Remove the foil for the last 25 minutes. You will be left with melting meat and wobbly fat with barely any sauce. The only way to eat them is with your hands, caveman-style. Serve with rice if you wish.

Braised oxtail with mustard sauce

Some joints seem made for the slow cook and the tail is one of them. An oxtail, providing it is covered by a lid and has a little liquid to keep it moist, is almost indestructible. On a low setting, you will eventually end up with the most tender of suppers.

Serves 4

olive oil
oxtail - 1.75kg
onions - 2
bay leaves - 3
white wine - a glass
greaseproof paper, buttered or oiled - one piece
double cream - 300ml
smooth Dijon mustard - 1 tbs
grain mustard - 1 tbs

Set the oven at 160C/gas 3. Warm a little oil in a heavy casserole. Season the oxtail all over with salt and black pepper. Lower into the oil and leave to colour on all sides. Meanwhile halve, peel and thinly slice the onions while occasionally turning the meat so that it gilds lightly and evenly. Remove the oxtail and add the onions, letting them soften a little but not colour. Hide the meat among the onions, tuck in the bay leaves and pour over the white wine. Lay the buttered greaseproof paper over the top then cover with a lid. Bake for two-and-a-half hours.

Lift the lid and remove the meat to a warm dish. Pour off any obvious fat then stir in the cream and the mustards and check the seasoning. Bring to the boil on the hob then bubble hard for 5-10 minutes to reduce the quantity, stirring in any pan-stickings as you go. Spoon the mustard sauce over the oxtail and eat immediately.

Chicken with star anise and ginger

A mellow, earthy supper that fills the house with the warm, aniseed smell of a Chinese supermarket. The full hour of unattended cooking time here is a real bonus, leaving you free to pour a drink, have a bath and feed the cat before dinner. The final seven minutes, in which you reduce the sauce and steam some Chinese greens, is hardly stressful either. Don't panic about the Shaoxing wine, you can get it in any Chinese grocers along with the star anise, but I must tell you I've used dry sherry, saké, even dry vermouth before now and it's been fine. You may want rice with this if you are very hungry. A plate of lychees, dripping sweet, fragrant juice as you peel them would be perfect afterwards.

Serves 2-3

groundnut oil
chicken pieces on the bone, skin on - 6
medium onion - 1
ginger - a thumb-sized lump
chicken or vegetable stock - 500ml
soft brown sugar - 3 tbs
Shaoxing wine - 3 tbs
dark soy sauce - 1 tbs
seasalt - a good half tsp
star-anise flowers - 3

Warm a couple of tablespoons of groundnut oil in a heavy pan - a cast-iron casserole is ideal. Lower in the chicken pieces (take care, they will spit at you) and leave them to brown, then turn them and brown the other side.

While the chicken is browning peel the onion and cut it in half, then cut each half into six slices from tip to root. Lift out the chicken pieces and set them aside in a dish. Stir the onion into the oil and leave it to soften, stirring occasionally so it doesn't stick.

Peel the ginger and cut it into matchsticks, then stir them into the onion. When the onion is soft and almost translucent return the chicken and introduce the remaining ingredients. Bring everything to the boil then turn down the heat so the liquid simmers gently. Cover with a lid and leave for an hour, turning the chicken just once.

If you are taking the greens option, and I hope you are, then rinse them thoroughly and get them and their water ready for steaming.

Lift the chicken out of the sauce and keep it warm. Turn up the heat under the sauce and let it boil, furiously, for 6 or 7 minutes until there is about a cupful left. Taste it. It will almost certainly need a little salt. Put the greens on to steam - they will need about 6 minutes. Tip the sauce over the chicken and serve with the steamed greens.

Ham with apple juice and juniper

I buy a ready-tied piece of boneless gammon from the butcher for this. It needs no soaking, but will benefit from being brought to the boil, drained and rinsed before being cooked in the apple juice. The perfect accompaniment at this time of year is mashed parsnip, or potato.

Serves 6

ham for boiling - 2kg piece
leeks - 2
carrot - 1
celery - 2 large ribs
apple juice - 2 litres
juniper berries - 15
cinnamon stick - one
black peppercorns - 9
parsley stalks - 6
bay leaves - 2

Put the ham in a large saucepan. Cover it with water, bring to the boil then pour the water away. Rinse the ham and return to the pot. Split the leeks in half, discarding most of the tops. Rinse them in cold running water to remove any grit. Cut the celery into short pieces and tuck into the pot with the leeks and carrot. Pour in the apple juice, adding water if it doesn't quite cover the ham. Lightly flatten the juniper berries with the flat of a large knife then add to the apple juice with the cinnamon stick, peppercorns, parsley and bay leaves.

Bring the pot to the boil, turn the heat down to a simmer, then scoop off the froth. Cover partially and leave it for a couple of hours.

After two hours cooking check the ham for tenderness. Leave in the cooking liquor, the heat switched off, for up to 20 minutes before carving. Serve in thickish slices, drizzled with a spoonful of the appley cooking liquor and mashed parsnips or potato.