23rd December 2024
Here at Pentire Hotel, ‘Wholesome Foods’ may as well be our middle name.
We’re lucky enough to make our home on the Cornish coast, where the land is fertile, and the sea is generous. For our chefs, the freshest fish and plumpest veg are as customary as sliced bread and Sunday drizzle.
Keen to introduce more fresh, local food into your diet? Good timing.
See, we tend to think of winter as barren and boring, culinarily speaking. Mother Nature has skipped her weekly shop and left her cupboards bare.
But this couldn’t be further from the truth. As diners in our restaurants know, winter dishes up a feast of tasty, seasonal delights, ranging from seasonal daily specials to bistro classics.
Here’s what to look for and where to find it.
Festive foods
Picture the classic Christmas lunch, plates piled high with wholesome foods. There’ll be Brussels sprouts, of course. And a fat, crisp turkey. And piles of golden potatoes and juicy carrots. Perhaps, too, a moreish little pot of cranberry sauce.
This familiar banquet wasn’t assembled by accident – all these foods are traditionally harvested in winter. To create the lunch we now love, our festive forbears simply dished up whichever meats and vegetables they had to hand.
But, of course, not all ingredients are created equal. If you want the crispest roasts and tastiest turkey, you need to know what to look for.
For roast potatoes, you can’t go wrong with russets – ideally grown on a local farm. These are well-behaved spuds. They crisp up obediently while retaining their soft, fluffy centres. Good potato.
Carrots? Again, go local. Like most veg, they taste best as soon as they’re pulled from the soil. And don’t be tempted to choose the fattest of the crop. Slender, firm-looking carrots have the sweetest snap.
Turkeys aren’t strictly seasonal – these handsome birds are available all year round. However, they’re certainly fattened up for the festive season. Choose a plump bird and baste it well to ensure a juicy result. And go free-range – for the turkey’s sake, as well as your plate’s.
Winter fruit and veg
There’s more to winter veg than Brussels sprouts. This is the season of rugged root veg, easily tamed with a little olive oil and a roasting pan. Think carrots, parsnips and potatoes (of course), as well as onions, beetroot and leeks. Do we feel a winter stew coming on?
And that’s just the tip of the turnip. Other wholesome foods dug up in winter include kale – one of the hardiest and most nutritious greens in this green and pleasant land – and cabbage.
Talking of which, cabbage cooked with bacon, garlic and plenty of black pepper might be the perfect winter lunch. Easy, too.
Don’t neglect your fruit bowl this season, either. Despite the cold weather, you’ll still find freshly harvested, vitamin-rich apples, pears, plums and clementines.
Winter herbs and spices
British food is often characterised as bland and flavourless. This is unfair and untrue.
To paraphrase the great Elizabeth David, we Brits are naturally inclined to enjoy rich, wholesome foods. Take one look at a medieval cookbook – you’ll be astounded at the sheer amount of cinnamon and saffron they used to stuff into their suppers.
This is partly because spices were – and are – good all year round. They dry and store well, so you can buy any with a clear conscience. If you want those characteristic winter flavours, though, take a leaf from that medieval cookery book and choose decadent spices like nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves.
Herbs are less hardy. But you can still find fresh, perennial crops like thyme, chives, rosemary, mint and sorrel.
Winter seafood and game
Yes, seasonality isn’t the preserve of fruits, vegetables and herbs. Meat and seafood can also change with the seasons.
Seafood especially, since much of it is still freshly caught. If you want the tastiest fish this winter, ask your local monger for cuttlefish, monkfish, sardines or squid. Shellfish-wise, lobster, oysters and clams are generally good all year round. But bear in mind this depends on location, as well as season.
Meat is mostly farmed and thus isn’t so tied to time and climate. But fresh, wild game is very much a winter treat. That’s partly because there are restrictions on hunting during the spring and summer months. So, if you see venison, grouse or pheasant on the store shelves, grab it.
Where to get your wholesome foods this winter
If taste and nutrition are top of your agenda, live by this simple rule: the less travelled the ingredient, the better.
Food, generally speaking, is best when it’s fresh. And while commercial storage and transportation methods can prolong freshness, they tend to sap nutrients and flavour.
For maximum wholesomeness, then, your best bet is to grow your own. If you’ve never grown carrots, say, you’ll be amazed how much better they taste when they’ve spent nary an hour out of the soil.
Your second-best bet is to get ingredients from a local farm. You know those signs daubed with ‘Asparagus next left’ or ‘Fresh carrots for sale here’? Sniff them out and stock up.
Sharing the title of ‘third-best’ are farm shops and local markets. If you’re not buying directly from the growers, you’ll at least know that the food hasn’t travelled far.
Of course, not everyone has the luxury of a local farmers market or the cash to spend there. The good news is that you can still find fresh, nutritious food in your local supermarket. A good rule of thumb is to spend more on perishable ingredients like meat and vegetables but choose cheaper brands for the store cupboard.
Enjoy fresh food at Pentire Hotel
For many people, half the pleasure of high-quality ingredients is in the cooking. But not every day is kitchen day. Sometimes, you just want to relax, pop a cork and let someone else take charge – especially during the festive period.
That’s why we’d like to cordially invite you to stay at Pentire Hotel this Winter. Join us for a well-deserved coastal break in Newquay and you’ll enjoy the height of Cornish hospitality. Expect brisk refreshing walks on the beach, breath taking views and wholesome foods, of course – and all the trimmings.
