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From Farm to Fork
Five seasonal ingredients you should be eating this month
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Ingredient Forced rhubarb
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rom bananas to blood oranges, pomegranates to passion fruit, this month’s seasonal fruit is imported. The
only thing we can claim as our own is forced rhubarb – and even then, it’s not even a fruit! Just as a tomato
is treated as a veg because it can be found in salads and savoury sauces, rhubarb gets fruity status as it’s mostly
used in puds. That said, these delicate pink stems also go well with oily, seasonal fish like mackerel, making a
great winter alternative to the more traditional sauce made from summer gooseberries. So, we can be thankful
for those who discovered the forcing process by accident nearly 200 years ago when its roots happened to be
covered in soil in the Chelsea Physic Garden. Today, it’s grown in forcing sheds in Yorkshire’s ‘Rhubarb Triangle’,
where the cold, wet weather provides the perfect conditions for these tender stems which need less sugar than the
sharper rhubarb that arrives later in the year.
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Ingredient Chicory
hicory is another forced vegetable which was discovered by accident. There will be some who will wish that
it hadn’t been found, for chicory’s mildly bitter flavour is undoubtedly an acquired taste. Those willing to
give it a go are rewarded with a salad leaf that goes brilliantly with sweet things. Partner it with sliced apple, pear,
grapes or even orange segments, throw in some toasted nuts – walnuts, cashews or hazelnuts – and you’ve got a
wonderfully crunchy winter salad. Just as you can cook lettuce, braise chicory with wine and stock or serve it with
cream, cheese and breadcrumbs to reduce its bitterness. Tempted? Look for firm, crisp, pale leaves and discard
the floppy outer leaves before eating raw or cooking.
Last chance to eat Celeriac
It’s not a looker but this is one root we’ll miss next month
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eetroot is a striking red colour and parsnips have those pointy ends which caramelise beautifully when
roasted, but with its knobbly, rough skin, celeriac doesn’t look that tempting on the shelf. But don’t judge it
on its appearance. It looks rugged but it actually has a more mellow flavour than celery to which it’s related, and
is great eaten raw. Don’t bother hacking at it with a potato peeler – just slice off the gnarly skin and then grate it
into a salad – it goes well in a chicory, orange and cashew nuts salad. Then, of course, there’s the French classic
remoulade, in which the root is sliced into fine matchsticks, tossed in lemon juice to prevent discolouring, and
covered in mustardy mayonnaise – great served with quality ham. The creamy coloured root, which got a mention
in Homer’s Odyssey, is just as good boiled or roasted. Boil for 15-20 minutes and mash it with potatoes, serve in a
soup with celery, or roast chunks of the stuff for around 40 minutes. Celeriac should be stored in the fridge.
Ingredient Mussels
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en that mussels can be cooked in a shallow broth for two minutes, this shellfish could be considered to be
the ultimate fast food. That’s if you didn’t have to scrub each of them, remove the beards, and swish around
in water to remove the grit. They won’t be served in a motorway service stations any time soon, then. As soon
as you taste the fresh sea flavour of these black bivalves, you’ll know that it was worth the preparation. Besides,
they’re not as tricky to crack open as oysters. Just cook for two minutes under a lid with a little broth and the
shells will open, the sign that they are ready. Moules Mariniere is a classic