During a period when his own vegetables beds lie dormant, food writer and critic, Matthew Fort, is thankful for farmers’ markets full of delicious produce with which to make heart-warming stews. Here, he shares his Lancashire Hot Pot recipe.
I have just drawn three oblongs on a blank page in my gardening diary. I call it a diary, but, in truth it’s more a set of random jottings with dates attached. Be that as it may, those three oblongs are signs of hope, of the future, of the cheery optimism that must flower in the bosom of every vegetable grower. Each one represents a bed to be seeded at the appropriate time in the growing season to come.
February is the month to plan the spring assault – radishes here, carrots there, broad beans in this bed, peas in that, potatoes over there, and so on or so forth. In the not too distant future, sorrel will be putting in an appearance – it’s always the first vegetable to galvanise itself – and rhubarb blanching inside its old-fashioned pot will be keeping it company. And after rhubarb, what" The race is on. Ah, a gardener may dream. In the meantime, I rely on my local farmers’ market for vegetables. Farmers’ markets are yet another thing we owe to the Americas (along with potatoes, tomatoes, chillies, chocolate, tobacco, corn, pumpkins and turkeys). They had a long and honourable tradition in the USA before they arrived in England. (The one in Bath that opened in 1997 is generally cred...