Darina Allen: Make the most of the season with my versatile roasted winter vegetable recipe 

Seek out fresh produce from local producers.

Oh, this really is a tough time of the year for many, the month of reckoning after the Christmas splurge and all for what? Can we even remember what we spent a lot of our hard-earned cash on or the presents we got? It’s an especially good time of the year to get creative in the kitchen, using inexpensive but deliciously satisfying ingredients in response to the cost-of-living crisis that’s spooking us all. So back to basics…

What’s in season at present? Well of course the citrus fruits are at their very best but let’s think about veg. Once upon a time, root vegetables were our winter staples, they stored well at a time of the year when fresh fruit and vegetables were not so readily available. Does anyone make a Root Pit any more? I remember when I was little, beetroot, carrots and Bramley apples were carefully stored for winter in the garden in straw lined pits, covered with soil, a traditional way of preserving vegetables. When I visited Faviken, the legendary 3 Star Michelin restaurant in Northern Sweden in the late 1990s, Magnus Nielsen proudly showed me his root store beside the restaurant. Well, one way or the other, a wide range of root vegetables are now available in our shops and supermarkets.