Frederick Forster Kitchen Confidential

January means slow-cooked comfort food with a touch of finesseaccording to Frederick Forster, head chef of The Boundary in London

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I always look forward to slow-cooking in January. At the restaurant, winter is all about balancing comfort eating with a bit of finesse, so I take a lot of time braising game meats to extract as much flavour as possible.
Whole boned rabbit with wild mushrooms is a favourite; the haunch goes wonderfully with poached rhubarb– or blood oranges, which are just coming into season. Fillet of venison is delicious, but the taste is quite delicate. I like to create a fuller-flavoured dish by pairing it with a pithivier of girolles and chestnuts mixed with haunch forcemeat and a little pork fat.

Pheasant and partridge are so good at this time of year. Both work well simply roasted and topped with a juniper berry sauce. I will often serve it with a salsify gratin on the side.

Root vegetables really come into their own in the new year. Jerusalem artichoke soup is very popular – I serve mine with braised frog’s legs and truffles. Swede is particularly good slow roasted and served in its own juices with kohlrabi and sea kale. With a little hollandaise flavoured with horseradish on the side it becomes a bit of a ‘cooked crudités’ dish.

The sweetness of roast beetroot makes it a natural foil to red meat and cheeses. Try baking red and golden varieties whole, then slice them, drizzle a balsamic vinegar and demerara sugar glaze on top, and add to a bed of goat’s cheese and chicory leaves. I like to grate cobnuts over my salads to add a bit of crunch but, as they are now at the end of their season, they can be tricky to find – pine nuts are a good alternative.

When it comes to seafood, there are countless things you can do atthis time of year. With mussels I make a mouclade (a saffron and curry cream sauce), served with a Pernod and tarragon cream. Scallops are at their best now. Try roasting them with vegetables à la Grecque and serve them with Morteau sausage – the smoky pork and the acidity from the vegetables is such a good marriage. When I want to do something special, I often opt for turbot. Baked in a champagne sauce and served with caviar and braised leeks, it’s lovely and rich, and lends a sense of occasion, theboundary.co.uk.

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Cornish oysters are very good, but you can’t beat the creamy flesh and sweet flavour of Colchester natives from the Wright Brothers (thewrightbrothers.co.uk) For game and poultry, Nigel Fredericks in north west London is a great family-run butcher (nigelfredericks.co.uk)

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