Hugo Arnold on fish casseroles, roasted roots and other long-cooking, low-maintenance dishes
A slow braise of chicken, chorizo and shallots; beef simmered gently in a sauce rich in Guinness, ham baked in an oven warm enough to sink into ... these are the dishes for short and chilly days. It is also the kind of slow cooking that allows the creator to close the oven door, or cover the pot, and slip off to do something else.
I am buying cheaper cuts, pork belly for example, and enjoying the fuller flavour of hours of gentle cooking. And I'm using meat with the bone in, to enhance the finished dish with added depth and sweetness.
Root vegetables are at their best at the moment. Crisp carrots and sweet parsnips, peppery turnips and luxurious artichokes all lend themselves to slow cooking. Or try roasting them in a hot oven for a good 45 minutes to one hour, with little more than a covering of fat; olive oil or, for those of you hoarding bowls of duck or goose fat, now is the time to be generous. Lots of salt and pepper help to draw out the flavours. Make your meat or fish wait for the vegetables, rather than the other way round. Roasted roots do not like to be kept hanging around.
These robust roots also go well in gratins, such as potato and turnip baked with cream, nutmeg and garlic. Anchovies can be melted into the cream for added oomph.
And then there are cabbages, which seem to be made for spicing and slow braising. Heap on the butter, or for those fearful of the stuff, there is always oil or water. This vegetable may have been boiled to within an inch of its life in school canteens, but these days more sympathetic treatment renders this humble veg a delight.
Cauliflower and broccoli make a substantial vegetable main course when smothered in a cheese-rich bechamel, given added punch with pungent nutmeg and pepper. This is old-fashioned eating of the best kind.