Gloucestershire food with Rob Rees January 2010

The carnivorous Cotswold Chef Rob Rees tucks into full English breakfast, hearty game and slow cooked comfort food in January, and unveils his foodie predictions for 2010.

It has been a very cold winter so far and while that might not be so good for the heating bills, it is great for maturing the starches in our winter vegetables with a natural sweetness that provides an extra boost to the energy levels at this chilly time of year.

Parsnips, swede, potatoes and carrots are all in season in January – perfect for combining in a hearty winter veg soup, with Jerusalem artichoke ready to eat at the end of the month. But spare a thought for the farmers battling the wind and snow to harvest the crops while you’re tucking into your steaming bowls!

Comfort food is not only back in foodie fashion, but is a sensible choice for winter – offering the perfect opportunity for some of Gloucestershire’s meat producers to convince you of their quality produce. Braised shanks, lamb hotpots, slow baked pork bellies, coq au vin and beef stew with dumplings all deliver scrumptious dishes to look forward to.

The game season also continues in Gloucestershire this month, with partridge baked with seasonal fennel, vanilla and candied pears one of my personal favourites.

January brings us Farmhouse Breakfast Week, from Sunday 24 to Saturday 30 January 2010, and the excuse to try some of the hundreds of varieties of bacon and sausages made in Gloucestershire. The tell tale sign for good bacon is that you shouldn’t see any of the globules of white forming when the rashers are being cooked, as this is sign of high water content.

Some of the best bacon in the county comes from Adeys Farm at Stroud Farmers Market, the Jesse Smith Butchery in Tetbury and Abbey Farm’s Organic Farmshop in Cirencester. As for breakfast sausages I prefer pure meat with a little spice – save the glamour sausages with chillies, leeks and other goodies for supper.

For a real treat and breakfast cooked for you, I heartily recommend the bacon butties at Hobbs House Bakery in Nailsworth. For posh nosh to start the day, Lords of the Manor in Upper Slaughter, Bibury Court Hotel in Bibury and Manor House Hotel in Moreton-in-Marsh all serve cracking breakfasts.

As for 2010, the future is very bright for British foods, and my top three predictions… drum roll, please… is that there will soon be many more Gloucestershire products for sale in some major retailers, high energy drinks are out and new vitamin-enriched products are in, and that gastropubs will be making way for the bistro which will be back with vengeance in the new decade.

Until February, when I will back with some romantic Gloucestershire food to make the heart sing, visit my website at thecotswoldchef.com, or follow me at twitter.com/thecotswoldchef.

Rob Rees
15 January 2010