I’m a February baby, so I can be rude about this month, which has to be the gloomiest of them all. An excellent remedy to beat the cold and grey of deepest winter is to sink into the pleasures of the kitchen. Embrace affordable ingredients, but work magic with them: transform humble root vegetables into irresistibly silky, caramelised morsels, and stale bread into sweet, golden crumbs for a quick, no-churn ice-cream. As a boon, a whole chicken, roasted at the weekend, will then give you stock for warming soups during the week. Last, don’t forget that soon it will be spring.
