Wednesday 16 December 2009

Winter warming food



Summer food is about colour, its about flavours and its about sharing with friends with wine on a warm summer evening. Winter food is about heat and calories, comfort food eaten in front of a blazing fire, shutters closed, dogs curled up by your feet and the cats reaching over your shoulder trying to nick some food off your plate. Its about living in a 100yr old single glazed stone house, with drafts blowing through, its about cold stone floors, as long as you know how to keep warm, as long as you eat the right foods it can be heaven.


Pot au feu
Traditionally, pot au feu is cooked in a large stockpot in which the meats simmer for a couple of hours before wintry vegetables such as carrots, leeks, turnips, and potatoes are added, cheap meat on the bone, traditionally beef, slowly cooking on top of the wood burner, taking huge ladle fulls and chunks of crusty bread, spreading the marrow on the bread and dunking in to the hot sauce, warmed red wine, its hard to beat. I try to make enough to last two days, what's left after that I blitz it down into a soup. Pot au feu can also be made from chickpeas, saffron, pork meatballs and lamb short ribs but I prefer beef.

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