Do you love to hate January

A recipe to warm your tummy this winter

It’s January, for many the month of doom, the days are long and grey, Christmas has been packed away, the back to work and school doom looms. We are all meant to eat less and move more, when in reality we all want to do is drink tea, eat biscuits and sit under a blanket binge watching period dramas and Masterchef.

However, if you can urge yourself to pop out from under your blanket and climb out of your Christmas food coma, January offers some glorious peeks at the Spring to come; the days are getting longer, on a crisp, frosty blue sky day the world seems bright, people smile at each other on their commutes and daily dog walks. There are even the last vestiges of veggies in the kitchen garden that haven’t yet been downed by snow or frost.

It is an unpopular opinion but I like January.

January on our farm isn’t wildly busy as we lamb in springtime, but for many farmers they will start lambing and January can be an unbelievably busy time.

It is these hard working farmers I was thinking about with this simple recipe, something comforting, hearty, tummy warming and filling that requires little admin other than the initial prep and uses onions stored from the summer and autumn harvest.

This is my English onion and beef short rib stoup - somewhere between a soup and a stew.

For 4 farmer sized portions you will need (this recipe scales up really well and is super for batch cooking):

4 beef short ribs

2 tbsp Plain flour

8 medium onions, thinly sliced

8 bay leaves

1 tbsp fresh Thyme leaves

2 generous knobs of butter

300ml Ale

700ml beef stock or beef bone broth

1 tbsp sherry vinegar

Salt and pepper

Thinly slice a mountain of onions and cook them in melty butter with the bay leaves, thyme and a sprinkle of salt and black pepper over a low heat for 30-45 minutes until they have softened into a golden, sweet allium mush. Keep the lid on to allow the onions to steam a little in the pan, but do stir, check and offer kind words often.

Season the ribs and give them an ample coat of plain flour. In a separate pan to the onions, throw in more butter and allow it to bubble, add the seasoned ribs and turn them in the butter until the outside becomes gloriously golden and you think the only decent thing to do is to eat them immediately.

At this point resist the temptation to scoff them, but do add them to the softened onions. Pour the ale over the ribs and onions and allow to bubble for a few minutes before pouring over the stock.

The stoup needs to gently simmer on the stove for 2.5 hours, or in the oven at 160 deg for 3 hours, removing the lid for the last 20 minutes to allow the stoup to reduce a little.

Once the ribs are meltingly tender remove from the onion broth, allow the broth to reduce and thicken slightly by simmering on the hob without a lid. Meanwhile de-bone and gently pull apart the ribs into generous chunks and add into soup bowls.

Once the soup has bubbled for a few minutes season with the sherry vinegar, and more salt and freshly pepper if needed.

Serve with chunks warm buttered bread, or devour after a hard day with stilton and mustard toasties.

I have made many iterations of this stoup over the years, to make it even heartier, throw some pearl barley at the pot as you add the beef or, add some orzo to the last 30 minutes of cooking.