Seasonal Foods: November
Vegetables
Root vegetables are great for roasting - carrots, celeriac, parsnips, turnips, swede, beetroot, squash, pumpkins and Jerusalem artichokes. All make terrific soups, too, so roast double while the oven’s on then make into soup which is sweeter and more flavoursome with roasted veg.
Healthy greens are plentiful to go with all those hearty autumn comfort foods - Brussels tops, endless cabbages, spring and winter greens, kale and chard.
British leeks start to come into season. Roast them, slow cook in butter or steam and remember what a great soup leeks make with potatoes.
Cultivated and wild mushrooms are plentiful, too, weather permitting.
Fruit
Later English apples are now here including the delightfully names Orleans Reinette, Blenheim Orange and Egremont Russet. Bramleys are plentiful for cooking and you’ll find cold-stored Cox, Fiesta and Ashmead’s Kernel.
Pears include Concorde, Doyenne du Comice, Conference and Winter Nellis. There should still be late raspberries around, too.
The exotic quince, thought to be The Forbidden Fruit, is ready to be poached in a sugar syrup for tarts and makes a delicious jam.
Sloes can be found in the hedgerows on blackthorn bushes for home-made sloe gin. The trick is too wash then freeze them, then thaw so the skins burst which eliminates all that pricking with a skewer! Macerate in half the sloes’ weight of sugar, top up with cheap gin and leave in a cool dark place in a sterilized Kilner jar, shaking occasionally, for around 4-6 weeks. Strain then bottle ready for a Christmas tipple.
Meat and poultry
Game season is in full swing with grouse, mallard, partridge, pheasant, rabbit and wood pigeon. If you’re a little nervous of game, buy it ready prepared from your butcher. Long, slow cooking in wine, cider or stock is ideal.
Fish
Sea bass, whiting and mackerel home-caught are great this month.
Shellfish is fantastic now, so look out for lobster, mussels, oysters, prawns and scallops.
Try these seasonal recipes:
Poached pear and fresh figs recipe
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