WELL SEASONED

“Why, what’s the matter, That you have such a February face, So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?” - William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing
 
Even the romantic poets and playwrights couldn’t bring themselves to write nice things about February. The last of the winter months, it is generally cold and gloomy with nothing to do in the garden but wait. February can, however, be usefully spent planning the coming year’s plantings and perhaps buying-in some supplies. We’ve been dusting off the window boxes, clearing away the remaining debris which is (shamefully) still loitering from last year and planning our chilli crop which will need planting (indoors) in March. We’ve also got some very exciting allotment news/plans for the year which we hope to report on in due course.

In the kitchen, warming, hearty fare is still the order of the day with stews and soups still going down well. The game season finished on 1 February in most places and so the stores are full of a wide variety of wild meats which can be made into pies, terrines and pasties. We’ve been working on a new Oriental style duck and plum pasty which is great for taking on those long winter walks. Recipe to follow shortly (if they are a success!)

Depressing as it can be to some, February is not without its seasonal celebrations. The 14th is of course Valentine’s day but of more interest to us foodies is 16th when we have perhaps the only seasonal festival that is actually known by the food eaten - indeed, these days, almost to the exclusion of its religious significance - Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day. More of that to come in due course but if you want to practice in advance (and why not?) we don’t think you can go wrong with Delia’s basic pancake recipe 

As we write, the last of the most recent snowfall has melted and there is a bright blue sky out of the window. Is it our imagination or could Spring be just around the corner? It’s certainly not far away - February is at least mercifully short. Let’s hand back to the poets for the last word…

“February sweet and small, greatest month of all.”
 
Hmm. That might be stretching it a bit, but at least it’s a positive note to end on. 

Cockles

It’s pretty cold this time of year so you might prefer to get these from the fishmonger rather than forage them yourself! A delicious addition to any fishy dish.

Hare

Similar in appearance but much richer in taste to its distant cousin the rabbit. Jugged, stewed or in a pie, it’s all delicious.

Chicory

Red and white varieties of this tasty plant are available throughout winter. Eat them in a hearty winter salad or braised.

It’s often said that “things that grow together go together” and certainly that can be true. But if ever two ingredients disproved the point it’s artichokes and scallops. The nutty, earthy root brilliantly compliments the sweet, meaty mollusc. The other thing that this recipe proves is that the winter months are anything but bland – these are some seriously tasty ingredients, both very good at this time of year. As you can see from the short recipe, the flavours are so good that very little else is needed.

The best flavours will undoubtedly be found with British scallops. If at all possible buy hand dived ones (see our earlier post about the horrors of scallop dredging). If you really can’t find hand dived ones, you can now buy Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified farmed scallops. The difficulty with these is that they are often flown from abroad (usually South America) so not great for the food miles but they are still probably preferable to dredged British ones. Quality hand dived scallops can be pricey so this makes a better starter than a main course.
 
Scallops with artichoke puree
Serves 4

12 hand dived scallops, shucked and cleaned. Clean and keep four of the shells
Two small knobs of butter 
400g Jerusalem artichokes, peeled and cut into halves
Salt and black pepper to taste
Lemon

Boil the artichokes for 10 to 15 minutes until soft. Strain from the water and blitz in a liquidizer until it becomes a smooth puree. If needed you can add a little of the water to help the liquidizing process. When you have a smooth puree, pour it back into a pan and heat for a couple of minutes, stirring continuously to reduce slightly and thicken it up. Turn off the heat, stir in a small knob of butter, a pinch of salt and several twists of fresh black pepper. Now cook the scallops. Put a knob of butter in the pan and heat until just smoking. Add the scallops to the pan and cook for a minute on each side. Be careful not to overcook them as they will become rubbery.

To serve, add a spoonful of the artichoke puree to each of the four cleaned scallop shells and place three of the scallops on each. Serve immediately giving each one a quick twist of black pepper and a squeeze of lemon.

Apparently yesterday was most depressing day of the year; we’ve all broken the usual resolutions about not drinking, giving up smoking, losing weight. Add to that the fact that we got paid early in December, that we have a mountain of credit card bills to pay off from Christmas shopping and that it’s aaaages until the Spring, it can all be a bit soul-destroying. But, for a privileged few the seasonal way of life means we don’t have to join the miserable hordes. For us (including you) every month (yes, even January) has it’s plus points and it’s own personality that we can work with, welcome and plan for. Granted, January is a little less approachable than the bright, optimistic March, or the warm, endless June but that’s not to say we can’t still be friends with it. January suggests, in fact, almost insists that you don’t bother doing any work (there’s very little you can usefully do in the garden other than a bit of tidying up) so your time is your own. Go for a long walk in the woods then come home, cosy up in front of a fire and enjoy some of the delicious produce that is still around in the shape of game (have you had your fill of partridge, woodcock, pheasant, venison and duck yet? I very much doubt it) root vegetables (parsnips, artichokes, carrots, chicory are all great right now) or fish (ditto - cockles, rock oysters, whiting). Anyone who suggests January is a barren month really isn’t looking hard enough.
 
And whilst you’re enjoying the best of the season you could make some New Year resolutions that you’ll actually have a chance of keeping. How about doing some of the following, all of which can be small but important steps towards the seasonal way of life:

• Eat more sustainable fish
• Try a new type of meat
• Plan a seashore-foraging or mushroom-hunting expedition
• Have a meat-free day
• Get a window box
• Plan to plant something you haven’t grown before
• Get a seasonal cookery book
• Buy more local food
• Put your name on an allotment waiting list
• Become and educated comsumer and learn what the different welfare symbols on food packaging mean

And if none of that helps, you may be interested to know that the commonly-held view of when Spring starts is incorrect. Astronomically (and also as far as the Met Office are concerned) 1st March is the first day of Spring. The 21st is the vernal equinox and, technically, should be somewhere in the middle of the season. On that basis, there are just forty days to go!

One of the most traditionally seasonal elements of the British diet is game. The very fact that game can only be shot at particular times of the year means it is strictly (and legally) a seasonal treat.

We have only a few weeks left in this year’s game season (which for most species in England ends either on 31 January or 1 February) and there are plentiful supplies of game in most markets, butchers and game dealers at the moment. So now is definitely the time to get out there and buy some if you are thinking about it.

Last weekend we set off to Cambridge for a small shoot hosted by a friend of ours on the farm his family have owned for many generations. The day started early on a crisp, bright and extremely cold Saturday morning. After some sausage sandwiches and a shot (possibly two) of Alex’s warming plum gin we started off onto the first drive. We shot three drives of predominantly pheasant before lunch, took a break for some pheasant pasties and then shot two more drives. Finally, as the sun began to set over the snowy Cambridge countryside, we set up around a small pond for some duck flighting. Several different breeds flew in and we saw a challenging mixture of teal, mallard and tufted duck.

At the end of the day between 8 guns we had 30 birds, comprising a great mixed bag which will allow us to try a range of seasonal seasonal recipes (and which we’ll report on here in due course.)

Shooting is an emotive subject and rightly prompts people to consider the moral issues involved. Killing your own food is obviously not something to be taken lightly but I strongly feel that, done properly, game shooting is one of the most defensible ways of gathering and eating meat. It seems to me that the birds we shot, had lived wild or virtually wild lives and had been as happy, free range and organic as it is possible to be. They were then swiftly and humanely dispatched and every one of them will be savoured by the people who shot them and who appreciate the value of that meat.

If you are a principled vegetarian then you are unlikely to think that shooting is ever right. On the other hand, if we eat meat, our duty must be to ensure that the animals we eat live comfortable lives and are treated with respect. Surely wild or near-wild birds live infinitely happier lives that any of their intensively farmed cousins?

For me personally, shooting has really changed the way I think about the cold winter months. Instead of a gloomy five month period before the days get warmer, it has become an exciting time of year that I look forward to. If you get the opportunity to go shooting, do consider it. A small scale local shoot might take a couple of dozen birds in a day, all of which will be treated with respect and gladly taken away by the guns at the end of the day. Taking an active part in the shooting of game is a great way to get into the countryside and to appreciate first hand the source of your food.

J

At this time of year we often have leftover pheasant or chicken to use up after a Sunday roast. There’s frequently a few peas, other veg and sausages too. This recipe is a great way of ensuring the leftovers don’t go to waste. It’s very versatile and you can experiment with pretty much any combination of vegetables and poultry. Pasties are meant to have a delicious, squishy centre so you don’t need to worry too much about the state of the veg going in. They make a perfect travelling snack on a long winter walk or a day out in the field.
 
To make 6 pheasant, sausage and veg pasties:
 
500g leftover roast pheasant, shredded
150g leftover cooked sausages, diced
2 medium leeks, washed and thinly sliced
1 small onion, peeled and diced
50g cooked peas
150g double cream
1 small glass white wine (or chicken stock if you prefer)
2 x 375g packs of pre-rolled puff pastry (feel free to make it yourself but I’m rubbish at it)
1/2 tsp dried thyme
salt and pepper to season
butter or olive oil
2 eggs, beaten
 
Start by sweating the leaks and onion in the butter or oil a large pan for five minutes or so until soft. Add the pheasant and sausage, cream, peas and white wine and mix together. Add the thyme and plenty of black pepper and salt to taste. Now turn the heat up and simmer for five minutes or so or until the sauce is thick. You now have your pasty filling. Turn off the heat and put to one side. Dust your work surface with flour and roll out your pastry into a large square. Cut the pastry into rectangles, approximately 15cm x 25cm. If you prefer a traditional half-moon shaped pasty then you can cut out into circles using a large bowl but I find it much easier to produce rectangles of a consistent thickness (told you I was no good with pastry). Take two tablespoons of the filling and pile onto one half of each rectangle (but don’t over-fill them - you dont want the pasties to burst in the oven). Leave at least a centimetre of pastry around the edge. With a pastry brush or your finger, moisten the edges of the pastry with some water and then fold the top of the pastry over the filling. With a fork or your fingers, lightly crimp the edges of the pastry together to seal the pasty. Repeat the process with all six pasties. Place the pasties onto a baking tray and give the tops a light brushing of the beaten egg to ensure a deep brown glaze. Bake at around 180 degrees C for 25 minutes or until golden brown. You can eat them straight away or prepare them a day or so in advance, just re-heating them for 5 minutes or so when required. You can also freeze the un-cooked pasties (provided you thoroughly defrost them before baking) although the quality of the pastry will determine how well them come out.
And finally…
 
Why did the pasty cross the road?

Cos he was meat ‘n potato
 
Boom boom….

Brown Crab

Having spent the winter months resting up in deep, cold waters the delicious brown crab is a great way to start the new year when you’ve had enough of the turkey and trimmings. Female crabs are spawning at the moment so be sure only to buy the bigger-clawed males.

Snipe

Along with the woodcock this little game bird is still relatively tricky to get hold of. But it’s well worth the effort. Roasted whole and covered in strips of bacon these make a great starter to a gamey feast.

Winter greens

This rich green favourite provides a hearty addition to warming winter stews.

So Christmas, the best celebrated of our seasonal festivals is over. It seems a little strange that, as a country, the Christmas lunch or dinner is such an event yet the other traditional seasonal feasts such as Easter, Harvest Festival and the solstices, have mostly died out as food-related events. So many wasted opportunities for blow out meals with the best seasonal food!

I was delighted to see yet more game on offer in the local supermarket when I popped in for some last minute provisions on Christmas Eve. If Tesco’s in South East London are selling quail, rabbit, venison and pheasant it really is becoming mainstream.

On this blog we’re always keen to encourage people to branch out a bit and try something unusual. In our experience, people can be a little reluctant to try game, so one of the best ways to get them to give it a go is to present it in a familiar format. Here’s our incredibly simple recipe for Coronation pheasant – a gamey twist on the traditional Boxing Day favourite.

100g mayonnaise
1 teaspoon curry powder (mild to hot depending on your taste)
50g fruit chutney (pretty much any chutney will do. I used my rhubarb one from earlier in the year)
black pepper and salt to taste
500g shredded roast pheasant

Simply whisk together all the ingredients and fold in the pheasant. Enjoy with a baked potato or with warm crusty bread.

Many people instinctively add grapes to coronation chicken/turkey. Before you do, have a think about where your grapes are likely to have come from at this time of year. There’s little chance of getting them from the northern hemisphere so chances are they’ve been flown in from South Africa or somewhere in the Middle East. If you’re after a fruity addition why not try a handful of British sultanas or chopped prunes; by using dried fruits you can get local ones which happily grew here over the summer and which haven’t flown thousands of miles.

Enjoy what is left of 2009 and best wishes for the New Year (and indeed the new decade). We think it’s going to be a big one for the seasonal food movement….

How many types of fish could you say you’ve eaten this year? I’d guess most people might have had some cod, some haddock, hake possibly a plaice or two. Did you know that every one of those species is now on the Marine Conservation Society’s Fish to Avoid list? Admittedly some healthy stocks exist in places but unless you know where your fish has come from, there is a possibility that you could be contributing to the decline and even the extinction of a species.

If you asked most people why the eat cod, they’d probably say it tastes good. But if you asked them whether they had ever compared it to flounder or pollack my guess is that they won’t have. As a nation we seem to have accepted without questioning that that these are the fish we eat. Wouldn’t it make sense to broaden our fishy horizons to see what else is out there and to take a bit of pressure off those species that are coming under pressure?

When you’re next shopping for fish, instead of just picking up the usual piece of cod, why not go to your local fishmonger and ask whether he can recommend a tasty, sustainable alternative? Or perhaps pick something you haven’t tried off the MCS Fish to Eat list and see if he has (or can get) some in stock?

One of my favourite seafoods is crab. Crabs of one sort or another are in season nearly all year round in British waters. In the summer months any short dive of the coast is likely to yield a good number of spider or brown crabs. In the winter months the spiders disappear and I’m less inclined to get into the water but the hardy fishermen of the British fleets can be relied on to keep pulling their pots of brown crab out of the water. Brown crab (from the S. Devon fisheries) and spider crabs are both recommended by the MCS as being sustainable at existing levels.

The brown crab spawning season runs from around January to March so you need to be a bit careful about buying them during this time. This week I bought what was probably my last crab of this season and I’ll now leave them alone until February/March time. If you get the chance to pick up a whole live crab from your fishmonger it can be very satisfying work preparing, picking it and dressing it yourself. If you’re not quite ready for that, pick up a British-caught pre-dressed crab and give a crabby recipe a go.

Crab is often used as a light summer salad ingredient but it can do a wonderful job as a warming meal during the winter and, in view of the fact it is still snowing as I write this, that’s exactly what I was after; this delicious devilled crab recipe  fitted the bill perfectly for a hearty, hot lunch.

One of the key points I’ve taken away from my personal seasonal eating mission is that eating seasonally isn’t just about consuming what is in season at any particular time. Of course, as we discuss regularly on this blog, there is a huge amount of local, seasonal food in this country for people to discover. If we are willing to look beyond the immediate supermarket offering, we can eat delicious, local, British food all year round. But the other thing we can learn is how to work with the seasons, preserving any excess and anticipating what is next to come in the yearly cycle. We make jams, preserves and pickles in autumn because we can’t eat everything summer produces in one go.

I guess meat is too cheap and plentiful in Britain to be worth preserving. That and perhaps the limited sunshine in the UK mean we don’t really have a traditional form of dried meat. But for many other cultures, particularly those with warmer summers and cold winters, traditional methods exist to preserve precious proteins over the harsher months. Dried meats exist in many guises throughout the world: biltong, jerky, pastrami. Most share the same basic principles – curing of the meat with spices and salt andor vinegar, followed by a slow drying process. Last week I decided to have a go at making some biltong.

There is no single recipe for biltong - there are hundreds out there. I went with a River Cottage recipe which was very easy. You can find it here: http://community.rivercottage.net/users/Winters%20on%20the%20way/recipes/pestrami-biltong

Having dried a good piece of spiced sirloin over five days it produced a chewy but very tasty biltong, which will last for months. It might not make the preetiest picture but its a perfect snack for a bit of sustenance on a cold winter’s day and a delicious reminder of some prime meat produced over the summer months when the weather was rather warmer.