The Long Month of January

January gets a bad rap, yes it can feel like the longest month of the year, yes its normally dark and cold and grey and damp. Yes too, the fact that payday seems to be aaaages away, bank accounts are empty and everyone has tightened their purse strings to get to the end of the month. Yet after the chaos and glitter of December, this long month of winter is such a relief. Calmness returns, the chance to hunker down with no social demands, sit and knit or read in front of the fire, finish a puzzle, darn those old socks.

Away from the madness of advent and its festivities, life slows and you can feel the season turning slowly towards the light. Days gradually lengthen, and the night sky twinkles with stars echoed in the frost of a frozen windscreen. The wolf moon glows silver through the dark stretched hands of leafless trees as the blackbird wakens and sings his song to welcome the dawn.

 

These are marmalade days in the kitchen, the annual tradition of preserving sunshine. Or of soups and roast vegetables, warming spices, slow cooked stews, nothing fancy, just warm and comforting bowls to wrap cold fingers around and scoop up with a generous slice of bread. The blue flames of the hob sending flickering reflections on the steamed up windows in the half light of winter afternoons. 

My Sunday morning swims in the lake are painfully brief and exhilarating and afterwards I ride out the after-drop with a flask of hot chocolate, sitting in the grass trying to reconnect to my toes. I have grown to love this month of hibernation and embrace the retreat. Taking time to enjoy this slowness has given me more time to read, to consider and explore recipes and ideas that comfort and heal. These are some of the many I’ve tried and enjoyed over the past few weeks.

 

Diana Henry’s roast squash and tofu with soy, honey, chilli and ginger – a fantastically easy bung-in-the-oven type of meal, perfect for when you want to escape back to the fireside. You don’t even have to peel the squash. The only additional work involves putting on a pan of rice to accompany the spicy sweet squash and tofu but this is hardly hassle. I added broccoli to the roasting squash, mainly because it needed using up and I didn’t have spring onions plus I love the pop of charred green. A souring spritz is essential whether that’s lime, lemon or vinegar and I showered mine with black sesame seeds. So good I’ve made this twice and leftovers are the base for a winter salad.

Bold Bean Co’s brothy beans, leeks and fennel with a pumpkin seed gremolata – I love the jarred beans from Bold Bean Co and could happily eat a jar with a spoon (I do sneak a few before cooking with them) and who doesn’t love fennel? This is another very easy, one pan, one bowl, one spoon kind of meal, you only need a hunk of bread. The beany broth is savoury and warm, lifted by the fresh crunchiness of the lemony gremolata. I added a green chilli to the pumpkin seeds for some extra warming spice.

Waitrose caramelised shallot and chilli pasta – we always seem to have bags of shallots leftover from photo shoots and this was a great way to use them up. The huge mound of chopped onions slowly reduces into a soft and unctuous sweet sauce, the key is to take it slowly. Combined with wholewheat dried pasta it was filling and tasty, the only skill needed is patience when slowly cooking the shallots.

If you are like me and happily hibernating, perhaps considering something warm and simple for supper, I urge you to look these up and try them. I'm back by the fireside, trying to turn my blue toes pink after a wintery swim under January skies. Long live January, the forgotten month when there is much to enjoy.