Eat in Season - Winter

Eat in Season - Winter

Winter days may be grey, but our seasonal vegetables are colourful – bright orange carrots, pink chard, white cauliflower and dark green kale. They make a flavourful accompaniment to wintry comfort food: slow-cooked stews, hot pots and pies. Cook up a heap of mash - not just potato, try different combinations of carrots, swede, turnip and Jerusalem artichoke. Root veg can also make a tasty one tray roast of roots with quartered onions and garlic cloves. Simply serve with steamed kale or savoy cabbage with a knob of butter and grinding of black pepper. Maybe add a spoonful of horseradish mustard or chilli jam from The Garlic Farm.

The colourful veg in the main picture is T&V Vegetable Growers' market stall at Hampshire Farmers' Market (also known as Durleighmarsh Farm Shop).

What is in season now:

Fruit: Apple; rhubarb.

Vegetables: Beetroot; broccoli; Brussel sprouts; cabbage; carrots; cauliflower; celeriac; celery; chicory; garlic; horseradish; Jerusalem artichoke; kale; leeks; mushrooms; onions; parsnips; potatoes; salsify; savoy cabbage; spring green cabbage; shallots; swede; sweet potato; turnips.

Game: Duck; goose; hare; mallard; partridge; pheasant; turkey; venison.

Seafood: Clams; cockles; dab; dover sole; flounder; grey gurnard; haddock; hake; herring; langoustine; lemon sole; lobster; mackerel; monkfish; mussels; oysters; pilchards and sardines; prawns; red gurnard; red mullet; scallops; sea bass; sea bream; skate; turbot; whelks.

Please check the Marine Conservation Society’s Good Food Guide (link HERE) and buy seafood from an independent fishmonger such as Hampshire Fare members Anyfish, Bishop’s Waltham; CE Evans & Sons, Alresford; JS Fresh Fish Shop & Deli, Southampton; Thyme and Tides Deli, Stockbridge and Premier Fish, Salisbury.