Whats in season - January

Happy new year!

My first post of 2010 is a whats in season guide to January. January is the heart of the winter months. It's cold and often snowy so comforting pies and stews are often on the menu. Christmas has led most of us to over indulging and the new year for many brings new years resolutions to eat healthy, lose weight or to eat more seasonally. So I figured today I would continue my whats in season series and also sit down with new and old favorite cook books to plan some comforting, seasonal and healthy meals for the next month.

I compiled this list using:
Eat the seasons
The river cottage year, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
River cottage seasonal guide - The Guardian
What's in season?

January

Vegetables: Beetroot, Brussels sprouts, Brussels tops, cabbage (red, white and various greens), carrots, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, chicory, greens (spring and winter), Jerusalem artichokes, kale, leeks, onions, parsnips, potatoes, purple sprouting broccoli, shallots, swede, turnip

Fruit: apples, pears, forced rhubarb, mandarins, oranges, satsumas, tangerines, Seville orange, blood oranges, pomegranate

Fish: cockles, cod, crab, mackerel, mussels, oysters, pollack, salmon, scallops, whiting

Game: Duck, hare, partridge, pheasant, venison

Kidney disease cookbook

Since I started this blog I receive a lot of emails from people wanting me to promote their offers or latest campaigns but I have never really been keen on turning my blog in to free advertising space. However the email I got today was different and it is something that I am willing to make available to you and tell you about. Basically I was asked to help make a cookbook for people with kidney disease available on my website and I have agree to do just that.

One in 10 people will develop chronic kidney disease in their lifetimes in the UK alone. Some of you may be familiar with the chef Lawrence Keogh from BBC One’s Saturday Kitchen but may not be aware that he had to have a kidney transplant at the age of 35, and as a result is now limited to what foods he can consume i.e. minimal amounts of salt, sugar and fat. On the back of this he developed a cookbook especially tailored for people who have or have had problems with their kidneys.
The book contains 16 recipes and is designed to help people cook meals that are still exciting and flavourful but move away from the quite often dull low phosphate diets that many sufferers have to contend with. He wrote the book in conjunction with a renal dietician who includes information throughout the book on why each recipe is suitable in kidney disease. I think this is a great little booklet for patients suffering from kidney disease and as such I am happy to support this campaign. Currently the booklet is only available free of charge from renal dieticians. However the aim is to make this cookbook available to as many kidney disease suffers as possible, so if you or someone you know suffers from kidney disease send me an email (purelyfood @ gmail.com) and I will email you a copy of the PDF.