WELCOME TO January

As memories of New Year celebrations fade, cooks hunker down, warding off the cold and rain with warming hotpots for the oven, soothing stews and comforting desserts that will cheer the chilliest and darkest of winter days. Yet there’s room, too, for something lighter, less nap-inducing after the excesses of Christmas. Dishes with zest and zip; an uplifting hit of fresh herbs… Balance, perhaps, is the watchword this month.

Comfort & warmth

That’s the theme for this first issue of the year.

JANUARY moments…

The ruins of Fountains Abbey and the Georgian Studley

FROM OUR INBOX…

Thank you for rekindling a festive memory [December

FOR STARTERS

NEWS, NIBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE AND GOOD THINGS TO DO RIGHT NOW

SLICE OF MY LIFE

The venerated food writer and artist recounts matchmaking meals, the joy of good game and the versatility of a yorkshire pudding

WIST LIST

“These pages are about us doing the hard work so you

delicious. TEST REPORT

THE COURSE One-day Cookery Course, £240 (includes lunch

THE FISH CURRY MASTERCLASS

• Fish curry may sound tricky, but it’s fast because

YOUR JANUARY SURVIVAL GUIDE

Yes, it’s cold, yes it’s dark and, no, you can’t have a holiday until Easter… But enough of the gloom, says Signe Johansen. In Scandinavia, midwinter is valued as a time to re-assess and reset, to take time out and appreciate life’s simpler pleasures. Need some reasons to be cheerful? Read on…

The search for Britain’s best producers is on!

The 2017 delicious. Produce Awards open this month. We’re on a mission to search out and champion local food heroes, the creators of Britain’s best food – and you can help our search

ARE MIDDLE-CLASS FOOD OBSESSIONS KILLING THE PLANET?

Smooshing avocado on sourdough toast for your breakfast? Maybe you’re grabbing an almond milk latte on the way to work, and roasting potatoes in coconut oil on a Sunday? If so, you’re on trend. But do these seemingly innocent habits have a dark side? Xanthe Clay takes a worldly view

MEET THE ACCIDENTAL HERO

Sheep farming in the Lake District is hard, cold, often thankless work. It’s not a career that tends to lead to fame and influence. Yet James Rebanks – fell farmer and unlikely bestselling author – has become a powerful voice for a traditional way of life that’s under threat. Susan Low spends a day with ‘the sturdy shepherd’ on his farm in Cumbria

CHEERS!

Susy Atkins picks the month’s best buys and top Australian wines

Is there such a thing as a…

It’s a buzzword you can’t escape at this time of year, along with other alleged health terms such as ‘detox’ and ‘cleanse’. But can superfoods really weave nutritional magic, or are they nothing more than a super swindle? Sue Quinn investigates

SOMETHING’S COOKING IN THE VALLEYS

Savvy ski companies in France’s Three Valleys are attracting food lovers with ski holidays that focus as much on the food as the snow. Food editor Rebecca Woollard, who first cooked professionally as a ski-chalet girl, sloped off for a taste of the high life

Peak comforts

THE FARMHOUSE AT MACKWORTH, NEAR DERBY (thefarmhouseatmackworth.com)

REASONS TO VISIT 10 SICILY

If you want to feed every one of your senses, there’s nowhere on earth quite like Sicily. You’ll experience a cultural, gastronomical and historical high so addictive it should come with a health warning. The tricky part is knowing where to start, says Sicily addict Melanie O’Shea

The dirty truth about clean eating

Beware the witterings of self-appointed wellness gurus and ‘health’ bloggers, says Anthony Warner. It’s pseudoscience and old-fashioned food exclusion that are at the dark heart of this ill-informed trend

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Grab your souvenir glass and try out more than 600

READ OF THE MONTH

THE BRITISH TABLE

WIN a set of Victorinox kitchen knives worth £600

COOK THE COVER

Delicious

COMING NEXT MONTH INÉ

WIN an indulgent escape for two

Start the new year in style with a luxury break at One Warwick Park Hotel in Royal Tunbridge Wells

JANUARY SALE SPECIAL OFFER …

3 issues for just £3!

LOOSE ENDS

Don’t let this month’s special ingredients linger in your kitchen – make the most of them with these smart and easy ideas

Melted cheese

Stringy mozzarella on pizza, molten whole vacherin, the crispy bits left in the pan from a toastie… Melted cheese is comfort food of the highest order. These recipes celebrate the most decadent of ingredients – and they’re probably the best way we know of banishing the January blues

MARY BERRY’S SUNDAY LUNCH FAVOURITE

ROAST OF THE MONTH

The transforming POWER of FOOD

Food is the source of life and health, but if you have

Soul-soothing recipes to chase away the chill

“I say it every year but, oh, how I love winter cookery:

CLEMENTINES

STAR OF THE SEASON

CHEER-UP FOOD FOR A WINTRY DAY

THE COUNTRY COOK’S GUIDE TO…

STEAK MASTERCLASS

…and the 5 sauces every cook should know

“My grandmother’s dish has stood the test of time”

In novelist Jason Goodwin’s house, this Chinese-inspired feast has become a firm favourite on family birthdays. It was passed down from his grandmother via his mother Jocasta Innes, and the tradition looks set to carry on with the next generation

GORGONZOLA the stuff of legend

It’s a champion of the Italian larder, crucial on a quattro formaggi pizza and one of the best loved blue cheeses. Susan Low travels to discover colourful tales of its origins – and we’ve created two recipes to inspire your cooking

MY LEFTOVERS FEAST

How the head chef of a two-Michelin-star restaurant cooks at home

SUNDAY ROAST, MONDAY SUPPER

One chicken, three ideas for leftovers

SIMPLE INGREDIENT SWAPS

that make a (healthy) difference

A world of flavours in a single bowl

Have you heard of the term ‘bowl food’? It’s bang on trend at the moment and there’s a good reason for that… It can be thrifty, casual and practical, plus it has the potential for almost endless variations. Author Nina Olsson shares her tips and recipes for good looking, great tasting meat-free meals with minimal fuss

STEAMED SYRUP SPONGE

We’ve kept the texture and flavour but cut back on the richness. The result: bowls scraped clean

THIS MONTH IN THE delicious. KITCHEN…

As the delicious. food team cook and test recipes, there’s constant tinkering and fervent discussion: timesaving ideas; new tricks we’ve heard of; some technique we’ve dreamed up and want to try… Then there are the questions and input we get from colleagues as they come to see what’s cooking. On these pages, our aim (with help from our regular experts) is to reproduce that test kitchen atmosphere, sharing the most useful ideas and tips we’ve discovered. It’s cookery gold!

BABKA

“As the latest rediscovered tea time treat, babka is

SATTU PARATHAS

“Parathas are an integral part of the cooking of the