New Year Suppers Nigel Slater's Simple Suppers

For me, when the new year kicks in,

everything starts to feel fresh and alive

and as the calorie fest of Christmas comes to an end,

I'm always thinking how to keep my suppers exciting

until the first spring salads and early summer veg arrive.

As much as I like all the gentle, fragile flavours of summer,

those early peas and the first carrots,

just as useful are the strong flavours you get in winter.

They are the things that really bolster you on a cold day in a great big soup or stew.

I want to get you thinking differently about these flavours

because now is the perfect time to really shake up your cooking habits.

I want you to try things you've never done before, adapt things you have.

Just be a bit adventurous.

This will wake up your taste buds like never before.

This is big-flavoured, cold weather cooking.

The sort of food that makes you glad to be alive.

New Year's Day and I fancy something that is really going to wake me up.

This early in the year, I really don't want to do too much cooking and yet I want to eat very well

so something really straightforward and simple.

And I'm not particularly superstitious, but I do have be a few little rituals.

One of them is, at the beginning of the year, to eat lentils.

They're supposed to bring good luck or at least wealth.

So, for my first supper of the year, I'm in the mood for a lentil and beef salad

with an unusual ingredient that I promise will blow away the hangover.

Put some lentils on to boil.

I always pop in some aromatics like garlic, onion and bay leaves

just to give the lentils a bit more flavour.

Next it's time to make a tangy dressing to go with the lentils.

Whenever I make a salad dressing,

I have an unusual habit.

I put the salt into the vinegar and dissolve it...

..before anything else.

I do that just to mellow the vinegar.

It just takes that really sharp bite off it.

I'm going to put a little bit of mustard in this.

Grainy or smooth, whatever you have will do.

Add some pepper and a good glug of olive oil.

Now for that secret ingredient, fresh horseradish.

There is something about the fresh stuff.

It has a real zip to it. It's really quite hot.

Wonderful in a Bloody Mary in the morning.

It really makes your eyes shine and is dead easy to grow.

Just pop a root cutting in the garden but be warned, it can take over.

It's not a fiery heat, it's a fresh clean heat

and it's really good with earthy food like lentils.

We've always kept it for beef and yet it has so many other uses.

Smoked fish really appreciates horseradish.

If you are using ready-made horseradish, two or three teaspoons will be fine,

but once you have tasted the clean heat of the fresh stuff, you will never go back.

I reckon lentils are done when they are still a bit nutty.

While the lentils are still warm, pour in your mustard dressing so all those lovely flavours soak in.

I want something really fresh and green in there.

But this is a day I don't want to do much.

A little bit of parsley, that's all that going in there.

The warmth...

..that the lentils have given to the dressing has released

all the oils in the horseradish and I can feel it coming up.

Good for clearing the sinuses if you have a cold.

Certainly good for a hangover.

This is such a brilliant dish to kick off the new year with.

It's great for using up any bits of meat in the fridge too.

I'm going to use the cold roast beef from yesterday.

Whenever I use cold meat or fish in a salad, I keep the pieces fairly small

because this is the sort of food and want to eat with just a fork.

There's no ceremony to serving this one.

Just dish up the lentils, tuck in the juicy meat and brace yourself for that horseradish hit.

Then some grains of sea salt, the really course stuff.

I love that moment of crunching through brilliant white salt on cold roast meat.

It's got an earthiness to it and a freshness,

but then slowly that gorgeous heat coming through from the horseradish.

It's a really good way to start the year.

Do try this with fresh horseradish if you can.

If you don't fancy growing it,

your local grocer should have some going cheap.

There's really no excuse.

I reckon I take on too many calories over the new year,

so I always try and squeeze in a good walk and after all the rich food,

there's something quite comforting about packing a flask of really healthy soup.

Just simmer any veg,

whiz up with some stock,

throw in a handful of fresh herbs and you've got the

ultimate fast food that you can take wherever you fancy.

Perfect for a chilly day.

I really can't be bothered with doing the sales.

I'd much rather come out for a walk.

It doesn't matter where and even better if it's snowy or cold.

I'm feeling very lucky actually.

Very lucky to find somewhere...

..away from everybody where it's very quiet,

where it's just all about me and a bowl of soup.

One winter veg I have a real soft spot for are Jerusalem artichokes.

I think they're a bit of an unknown,

probably because as they can be a bit pricey,

but they're so easy to grow.

They grow like weeds.

I didn't even plant these.

They're left over from another year and have seeded themselves.

I love them in soup and salads and I love to roast them, but they do make you windy.

Their reputation is well deserved.

I think you've just got to go with it.

So, even though I may regret it, for their first kitchen appearance of this new year,

I'm going to roast some artichokes with a few potatoes for a warming, juicy main-course dish.

These are the sort of vegetables that, like potatoes, you can roast just as they come,

but I prefer to give them a steam or boil first

and that way they go really fudgey inside when they are cooked.

Don't worry about peeling your potatoes and artichokes.

I give them a good scrub and steam them for about 10 minutes.

There are so many different steamers on the market - some very expensive and beautiful.

But I just improvise with a saucepan, a colander or sieve and a lid.

I'm going to roast them in some really fruity olive oil.

Give your veg a really good toss in the oil and season with salt and pepper.

Because their flavour is so earthy, I want something bright to lift that.

So, I'm roasting with lots of lemon juice.

Squeeze it in and then tuck the shells in

amongst the artichokes.

They go into a good, hot oven for about 35 to 45 minutes.

I'd love to serve some greens with my veg.

But I'm feeling lazy, so it I'm just chucking some fresh parsley in.

These work for me,

just as they are.

But, they also make a really delicious accompaniment.

You could have them with roast beef, you could have them with some mackerel.

They're great with bacon.

A wee bit of parsley.

Lots of fresh lemon juice.

Then just because I feel like it,

a little bit of Parmesan cheese.

So you've got the real savour of the Parmesan cheese

and then the earthy softness of the artichokes.

Just a few little parings of cheese.

Just over the top.

Artichokes are not velvety and soft in soup.

They're at their best when really they're roasted and chewy and all the edges catch on the pan

and they're really golden and sticky and almost toffee like.

I know they look a bit weird and knobbly, but they're honestly some of my very favourite vegetables.

And they're just so soft and smooth.

And surprisingly sweet.

If this one doesn't want to make you plant some artichokes this year, nothing will.

Once the festive mayhem starts to die down, I can't wait to get back into the garden again.

Today's job is a bit of an early spring-clean.

There isn't much to do in the garden at this time of year.

The sort of thing to do at the same time as cleaning out the larder

and getting rid of anything past its sell-by date,

is get out and clean the tools.

I really enjoy looking after them.

It's also very soothing.

To be honest, most of the work is done inside.

Preferably curled up with a piece of warm, home-made cake.

Just as some people flip through holiday catalogues,

I like seed lists.

They do exactly the same, they transport you,

they take you to the middle of summer, with all the tomatoes and the beans.

I just look through and I can imagine myself gardening and picking things.

Taking them into the kitchen.

Look at a tomato list and suddenly you've got the sun on your back.

You're thinking about making a salad.

I just love going through all the catalogues, I get completely carried away.

One of the best bits is planning what I'm going to grow

by drawing little diagrams in my notebook.

It's a mixture of things that I've grown before and have worked, and then there's always something

a bit weird and wonderful that I can't buy in the shops.

Just the names of some of them are just so amazing.

You've got to grow a squash called Amish Pie.

That's a lovely thing about having a little vegetable patch,

is you can stick in the things that there's no other way you'd be able to taste them.

Kale is always on my list of things to grow,

because it's one of those ingredients I can chuck into anything,

stews, stir-fries, warm salads.

For my Monday night supper, I'm in the mood to have it with some delicious spicy sausage.

First, give the leaves a really good rinse, to get rid of any remnants of the garden.

Like all members of the cabbage family,

they're never happier than when they're in the company of pork.

Maybe bacon or salami or spicy Spanish chorizo.

They just love being together.

These sausages are really useful to have around.

You can add them to soups and to stews.

You can cook them slowly in stock

or you can add them to a quick stir-fry.

If you keep the heat quite low at first,

the fat in the sausages will slowly soak out.

You won't have to add any to the pan.

You can just hear that fat slowly coming out and starting to sizzle.

Put some almonds in here.

They come from the same part of the world as the sausage.

So they should be happy together.

When the edges are slightly golden,

I whip this out

and put in the almonds.

Whether you're grilling almonds or frying them in the pan,

don't take your eyes off them for a minute.

One minute they're golden, the next minute, they're black.

As soon as they start to brown,

whip those out...

Chuck in some roughly crushed garlic with a little extra oil.

As that garlic starts to sizzle

and the smell rises up,

then in goes my kale

You don't want them to brown, you just want them to relax.

Let your kale darken and soften a bit before throwing in your sausage and nuts.

This is big flavoured, cold weather cooking.

Strong flavours,

vibrant greens, sizzling spicy sausages and then crunchy almonds.

The sort of food that makes you glad to be alive.

This is the perfect one-pan supper to brighten a dark January evening.

Try it with any combination of cabbage and pork.

It'll be a winner every time.

I always make new year's resolutions.

It's as much a part of the season as eating mince pies.

Sometimes they're very specific and foody, such as eating healthily,

growing more of my own food

and other times they're more general, like being organised and never being late.

I always promise myself I'm going to find time

to do a bit more of the kind of cooking I really love.

The kind that involves a little bit of weighing and measuring.

Like cakes, biscuits and bread.

Making a loaf is so easy.

I don't know why we don't all do it more often.

And this is the perfect time of year to give it a go.

I think people would appreciate bread more if they made bread more.

You can't better that wonderful thing of this wonderful loaf coming out of the oven,

you smelling it, you seeing it,

you hearing it, and then everybody, the whole family enjoys eating it.

So really, what could be better?

Elizabeth and Rachel make bread in their Sussex bakery as it has been done for centuries,

by mixing flour, yeast and water and then they add whatever they fancy.

It is quite a satisfying thing.

It's something you make yourself, you know where all the ingredients come from,

there's a creative element to it, there's a physical element to it.

You get to eat it in the end.

What's wrong with that? Nothing bad about it, everything good.

Here's some of our morning's production.

We have a rye sour dough, a pane Pugliese, which is a lovely white Italian bread.

We have a brioche there.

We have the classic British bloomer, sesame seeded one.

This is a pain au Levain, which is a sour dough.

-This is a little farmhouse.

-Oh, yes.

This is my all-time favourite.

Everything sounds savoury, but this can be, sort of sweet.

-That is very true.

-This is chocolate bread, it's actually an Italian recipe.

The dough is chocolate with cocoa powder and chocolate chips.

But it's not too sweet. You can go the red wine and mascarpone cheese route or you can go peanut butter.

It's good with a cup of coffee and it's good with a glass of Chianti.

I prefer the Chianti,

but each to their own.

The secret to making tasty bread like this is giving the dough time to ferment.

This bit is usually rushed in the mass-produced bread we buy.

But leaving it a while lets the bread's flavour really come through.

If you don't have quite so much time,

I make an old fashioned loaf that is done and dusted within the hour.

And when it's fresh out of the oven, I've got the perfect filling in mind.

To start with, mix 225 grams of plain flour

and the same again of wholemeal, to add some texture.

There is this idea that baking bread is complicated,

that it involves so many processes.

Yet it is very different to everyday cooking.

Partly because you're weighing things, partly because there's a bit of chemistry involved

and sometimes a wee bit of magic.

But it's a question of getting in there and having a go.

I know it doesn't always work.

My first loaf ended up on the lawn for the birds.

My father just chucked it out the window.

But then it got better and better.

Easier. Add a teaspoon of salt and sugar and here's the bit that makes this lazy -

I'm using bicarbonate of soda instead of yeast to make my loaf rise,

which means I don't have to leave it for hours before cooking it.

It's the sort of ingredient that just sits there on the shelf, but watch the sell-by date.

It's actually quite short on bicarbonate of soda.

If it has passed its sell-by date, put it in a little dish,

in the fridge, it'll make the fridge smell lovely and fresh.

Every loaf needs some liquid and the usual thing is warm water.

But I like my loaves to have a little bit of flavour, something slightly sharp in the background.

So, I tend to use buttermilk.

Sometimes, yoghurt.

You need to use natural yoghurt here, without any flavourings or sugar.

About 300 millilitres will do.

Make sure it's live yoghurt.

That's what's going to help to make it work.

A dribble of milk will make the yoghurt a bit more pourable.

I simply pour that into the flour, the salt and the sugar and the bicarb.

Then you bring all the ingredients together.

A bread dough should be quite soft.

You should get the feeling that there's something happening inside.

That doesn't make sense until you actually start to do it and you get your hands in there.

You'll feel that there's kind of something going on.

I always like to think I can feel its heart beating.

Because I'm not using any yeast, I can stick my loaf straight in the oven.

I've already preheated a pot just to help to create a crackling crust.

Dust the pot with flour to stop the dough sticking.

Pop it in there.

Just to make it easier to break open, just put a little cross on the top.

The you just pop it in the oven for about half an hour, 25 minutes or so.

While that's doing its thing, here's a quick recap...

Don't forget, you can download full details of all my recipes on:

Dive into your loaf when it's fresh out of the oven if you can.

This is when I usually dabble with an assortment of fillings,

depending on what's in the fridge.

Today, I've got some bacon crisping under the grill.

A good dollop of chutney will give a sweet and fiery kick.

Then a crisp, cool lettuce leaf and finally, silky smoked salmon adds a bit of luxury.

That's it.

My salmon, bacon and chutney sandwich.

Yes, it is an unusual combination.

Soft, silky salmon, hot, crisp bacon.

But it works.

It so works.

It's around this time that I try and squeeze in one last treat

before the decorations come down and everything gets back to normal.

Generally, the less faff the better.

I'm always after a supper that's cheap and cheerful, particularly so at this time of year.

But I don't just want them to be cheap.

I want them to have a special feel about them.

Even if they don't cost much.

One of my favourite ingredients for that are mussels.

They're not expensive...

..they look great and eating them is actually good fun.

That whole thing of getting a big bowl of

gaping mussels in their shells and just sharing them with somebody.

I'm cooking a lovely, simple dish of mussels with cider.

If you've never cooked mussels, give it a go.

As long as you remember a few tips, you honestly can't go wrong.

Just need a big pan.

A tiny little drop of oil, maybe some butter.

Just a bit. Some onions. Maybe some bay leaves.

And whenever I cook with mussels, I always like to include some garlic.

They're very, very happy in each other's company.

I don't want the garlic to overwhelm the dish,

so I'm just going to crush the cloves and stick them in whole.

Let the onions soften, whilst you get cracking washing the mussels.

You need to give them a really good rinse in lots of very cold, running water.

Any that seem very light or have broken shells

or any of them very, very heavy and consequently full of mud,

throw them out.

Any that are open

and don't close when you tap them, they've got to go too.

As mussels cook, they produce a lot of their own liquid

and that's where most of the flavour is.

But that flavour works best with a very mild alcohol, like white wine,

or as I'm going to use, some cider.

What happens is

all the wonderful fishy juices

mix with the cider and you get the most fabulous tasting broth.

Now, we want these to cook really, really quickly

because that's when they're at their best, really juicy.

In order to do that, I'm going to put a tight lid on so they steam and they cook in that.

This is the point where you call everybody to the table, because once your mussels are cooked,

it isn't long before they turn a little bit rubbery and you want them to be really juicy.

It's literally minutes.

The mussels are done, as soon as they're open.

You get two bites of this dish, the mussels themselves

and then you get this gorgeous, cidery, fishy, herby broth.

Sometimes I eat it with a spoon beforehand.

Sometimes I save it till last.

Either way, it smells like the seaside.

If you've got any bread knocking around,

this is a great time to use it.

Just that heavenly broth, cidery, fishy and herby.

Good.

This is a really fun, midweek treat.

It won't take you any longer than 15 minutes.

That's what I call a quick supper.

I've created five exciting, tasty supper ideas,

that I promise will put a spring in your step as you start the new year.

Simple dishes that you can easily experiment and add your own spin too,

depending on your mood or what's in the cupboard or fridge.

So what are you waiting for?