The Modern Cook’s Year. Anna Jones
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in season and locally, are huge personal steps we can take in a better direction.
I have wherever possible tried to include vegan alternatives in lots of recipes; my brother and sister are both vegan so I cook this way often. For me it’s also important not to rely too heavily on dairy and eggs; while I do include good organic versions in my diet, I make sure a few meals each week are completely egg- and dairy- free, helping further reduce our load on the world around us.
The UK is a small country so when I think about seasonal eating I include Amalfi lemons, apricots from Provence, rice from Puglia. While I shop as locally as possible and my focus is on British produce, where I need to I lean on our European friends and their incredible offerings. Never has it been more important to foster the links that food creates, the trade it encourages and the barriers it breaks down.
A note on shopping
I long for a vegetable garden and to grow what I eat, but that’s not the reality just now; I shop for all my food (with the exception of a little foraging). The bulk of what I buy is from local shops and our excellent farmers’ market, topped up with the odd supermarket delivery for bulky things and dry goods.
My weekly trip to the market is my connection with nature, with food at its source. Seeing the first courgettes appear or the array of apples in autumn is my connection with the earth. Of course, I walk in the parks and trees and escape to the sea often but in the city it’s this trip that connects me with nature, with a place in time. I don’t need to be told when asparagus is in season any more; having cooked for years I know when it will arrive but I still go, I still walk the stalls, even if there is very little to buy and even if my fridge is full. It grounds me, reminds me of the wonder of food and the weeks I can’t make it I miss it.
I know the reality for many is that their shopping is done at a supermarket or online, and for a few months when my son was small so was mine (and our local shops are less than a five-minute walk away). Supermarkets are getting better at stocking and championing seasonal, local produce so it is absolutely possible to eat seasonally and shop at supermarkets. If you aren’t in tune with the season then perhaps remind yourself of what’s growing and good to eat now before you shop, look at labels, buy local food if you can. Even if sometimes it does cost a little more it will without doubt taste superior. The more we buy ethical, local and seasonal produce from our supermarkets the more they will stock, so with each purchase you are making a change.
Best of the season
Kale
Leeks
Swede
Purple sprouting broccoli
Savoy cabbage
Brussels sprouts
Winter tomatoes
Cavolo nero
Radicchio
Winter citrus
Pomegranate
Forced pink rhubarb
Flowers
Mimosa
Hellebores
Magnolia
Anemone
Grapefruit with honey and coriander seed toasted oats
I eat fruit for breakfast every day but at the start of the year I find my fruit bowl a little empty. We eat pears, apples, pomegranates and, when they arrive, blood oranges, but it’s not the offering of spring or summer and I get a bit bored. That’s when I turn back to grapefruit. I ate them growing up, an inch of sugar as a roof, with a special serrated spoon to scoop out each segment. This is now a breakfast we eat on repeat. It feels grown-up and delicate but requires little more than a few minutes at the stove.
Coriander seeds find their way into as many sweet things as savoury in my kitchen these days, their lemony character a perfect pep to a bright bit of winter citrus. This is as good at the end of a meal as for breakfast.
SERVES 2
2 grapefruit
½ teaspoon coriander seeds
2 tablespoons honey or agave nectar, plus more to finish
1 teaspoon butter
4 tablespoons rolled oats
1 teaspoon vanilla paste
100g yoghurt (I use coconut yoghurt)
Peel and segment or slice your grapefruit, taking care to get rid of any big bits of bitter pith. If you have any pieces of grapefruit peel with juicy flesh attached, keep them to use in the syrup. Bash the coriander seeds in a pestle and mortar until they have broken down a little and smell fragrant.
Put a small pan on a medium heat, add the coriander seeds and toast them for a minute until they smell toasty and more fragrant. Take the pan off the heat and add 2 tablespoons of cold water and the honey then squeeze in the juice from any of the bits of grapefruit you have saved. Put the pan back on the heat and simmer for a minute or so until the liquid all bubbles down into a thick syrup.
In another pan melt the butter until it’s foamy, then add the oats and toast, stirring them all the time until they are buttery brown and smelling great. Add the vanilla paste and stir for another minute or so.
Put the grapefruit slices on to two plates, pour over the warm syrup and top with the yoghurt and oats and a little more honey if you like things sweet.
Saffron breakfast kheer
Kheer is an Indian rice pudding eaten on high days and at feasts. It is a calming mix of gentle spice, milk and rice, which I find especially good to eat at breakfast time. There is nothing more nourishing to my mind than milk and rice together – easy to eat and cleansing in the best possible sense of the word. We make a double batch of this and reheat it with a little extra milk on the following days; sometimes it’s dessert too. Kheer is used in the Ayurvedic tradition to balance the system during the winter; the sweet cinnamon helps digestion and the warmth of the rice and milk protects against any wintery cold.
I use brown rice here but white rice would be just as delicious. I suggest soaking the rice overnight – it is a 2-minute job and will vastly speed up the cooking process. If you don’t remember to do it overnight, then soaking it as long as you have will be okay. If saffron is a bridge too far for breakfast, then you can just leave it out, the other spices will hold up.
SERVES 4
150g long-grain brown rice
100g cashew nuts
50g blanched almonds
1 litre almond milk (I use unsweetened)
6 cardamom pods
100g raisins (I use golden ones)
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
a pinch of saffron threads, soaked in 50ml boiling water
1 small cinnamon stick
2 tablespoons runny honey
TO SERVE
the zest of 1 unwaxed lime
a small handful of toasted coconut flakes
Soak the rice in one bowl and the cashews and almonds in another in cold water for at least 30 minutes but ideally overnight.
In the morning drain the rice and put it into a saucepan with the milk and 500ml of cold water and bring to a simmer. Cook for 20 minutes at a gentle bubble until the rice has puffed up and the liquid is beginning to thicken.
Meanwhile drain the nuts and finely chop them