TOM PARKER BOWLES: Will you be clean and serene in 2013?
January has never had it easy, the eternally hissing villain of the calendar year.
Because it’s a long month, a 31-day penance for the sins of the Christmas splurge, a time when allotments are empty and credit cards full.
And so we stumble, sluggish and bleary-eyed, into the nascent year, innards pickled and brains fried.
Once we hit January, common sense seems to be thrown out with the Christmas decorations.
Perfectly sensible folk become desperate for any salve for the past month’s excess.
An insole that ‘drains’ the toxins from your body? Yes please.
A wildly expensive detox ‘solution’ that flushes the filth from your liver, as well as containing ‘miraculous natural extracts’ previously undiscovered by the scientific community? Bring it on.
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So this year I’ve come up with a revolutionary new diet that’s certain to see those pounds drop off. It’s called the ‘Eat Less, Drink Less Grog and Exercise More Regime’.
Radical, eh? Gillian McKeith must be quaking. And for the small sum of £500, I’ll let you all into the ancient, mystical art of, well, scoffing less and moving more.
Food for thoughtFor those keen to get their teeth into something more substantial than the latest dreary celebrity diet book, then Petit Propos Culinaires (PPC) proves a splendid feast of food history and writing. Founded in 1979 by an illustrious group including Elizabeth David and Richard Olney (as well as present editor and owner Tom Jaine), the issues arrive bi-monthly (£34 for 6 p/a) and never fail to fascinate and delight. prospectbooks.co.uk
Really, though, January isn’t all that bad. Especially when compared with its neighbour, February, a truly wretched month.
Seasonal produce might be a little thin on the ground, as you’d expect, but the brassicas are in full swing, as well as chicory, leeks and spuds.
Plus, game is still pretty fine, too, with partridge, pheasant and hare both cheap and abundant.
But if you do insist on cutting out all those devilish fats, eschewing the sticky beef braises and slow-cooked pasta sauces, then all is not lost.
There’s no need to disappear into a sludge of prudish pulses and parsimonious soups.
The lentil can be a glorious thing when simmered in stock, cooked with onions, garlic, chillies, finished off with a great handful of parsley, then topped with an oozing poached egg.
It’s cheap but magnificent, the sort of food that fills the belly and leaves you with the smug afterglow of a proper healthy dinner.
Couscous is great, too, fluffed and steaming, mixed with roughly cut chunks of tomato, red onion and pickle chilli, then doused with a splash of vinegar, a dollop of harissa and a great glug of olive oil.
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If you’re craving protein, bung in a couple of chicken thighs or breasts, marinated in salt and lemon juice, then gently fried until beautifully burnished.
You could disappear into endlessly fragrant delights of South-East Asian dishes, such as a soothing, fiery Thai soup scented with lemongrass and ginger.
Or a huge bowl of stir-fried noodles studded with broccoli, baby corn, spring onions and shallots.
This is food as medicine, the sort of stuff that cleans the plate and clears the sinuses, too.
Try fresh white fish, raw and chopped into small pieces and bathed in lime juice for about ten minutes, before adding more tomatoes, onions and chillies for a delicate ceviche.
Or take a whole fish – bass, pollack or bream – and bake with white wine, lemon and herbs.
In fact, the lack of any significant fat and heft allows you to get more inventive: pot-roasted chicken, stir-fried vegetables, salads heavy with beetroot and soft-boiled egg.
Moderation is bearable, as long as the flavour’s there. So revel in January, an unfairly maligned time.
Because come February, a mass of stews, braises, pies and roasts won’t be mere food, rather an absolute necessity to survive the year’s gloomiest month.
Start mincing aroundA reprint of Josceline Dimbleby’s bestselling Marvellous Meals With Mince makes perfect reading for these financially challenged times. Forget those mean little pellets of rubbery mince that seemed to blight all of our childhoods. This is a classic work, by a great food writer, stuffed full with recipes you actually want to cook and eat. £9.99, Quadrille
