Is everything outside frozen, cold and lacking in light? No doubt about it, winter has arrived! To keep the gloom at bay, we're cooking up some tasty treats to cheer us up. Soups, gratins, purées... And as soon as a ray of sunshine appears, we get out our Kokko and let our creativity flow. The only restriction is that we only cook seasonal produce! Here's a list of what to put in your winter basket.
1 - Fruit
From January to March, you can enjoy dry almonds, lemons, kiwis, oranges, grapefruits, pomelos, apples and pears. For the first two months, persimmon, clementine and tangerine are also available.
Don't forget exotic fruits either. For some, it's the height of the season: pineapple, avocado, banana, mango, but be careful about where they come from!
Not enough fruit in winter? Even if the range of fruit on the market is less complete than in summer, there's still plenty to make compotes or roast in the Kokko!
Here are our favourite recipes:
Pineapple with caramelised ginger
Pineapple noodles with orange sauce
2 - Vegetables
All winter long, you can enjoy spinach, squash, garlic, beet, carrot, chard, celery, cabbage, turnip, leek, black radish, parsnip, endive, cabbage, white cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kale, salsify, Jerusalem artichoke, crosne, frisée, lamb's lettuce, onion, turnip, potato and watercress.
At the start of winter, in January and February, squash (pumpkin, pumpkin, butternut), kale, chicory and red cabbage will still be in season.
From March onwards, we leave them aside for: pink radish, asparagus, artichoke and lettuce.
3 - Fish
Respecting seasonality when eating fish means consuming better quality products. It's also a way of preserving certain species and reproduction periods, and avoiding over-fishing.
Fish include: sea bass, gilthead bream, skate, cod, haddock, haddock, bass, burbot, cod, gurnard, pollack, lemon sole, sole, hake, red mullet, red mullet, Saint-Pierre, cuttlefish, pout, whiting, hake and turbot.
For seafood: mussels, oysters, whelks, scallops, shrimps and spiders.
A few ideas for a treat:
Red mullet fillets on a bed of mango
Grilled shrimps marinated in spices
4 - Cheeses
And yes, it's not just fruit, vegetables and fish that are subject to the rhythm of the seasons - cheese is too. Pastures are less rich than in summer, so the food ingested by the animals will have less flavour , and consequently, so will their milk.
So in winter, we opt for cheeses matured from summer milk or the previous year's milk, such as tomes, Gruyère, Ossau-Iraty, Beaufort, Laguiole, Cantal, Salers, Appenzeller or Comté. The exception is Mont-d'Or, traditionally made in winter. Blue-veined cheeses such as fourmes, Roquefort and bleus are also popular.
We also try to choose them as locally as possible, avoiding buying products that travel thousands of kilometers. So how about getting started this holiday season by preparing eco-responsible meals? Here are a few tips to help you do just that!
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