Savoie Fare

For a state with a proud history, it is strange that Savoy's few vestiges in the English-speaking world are a place for high-falutin cream teas and a crinkly winter cabbage. I'm not sure if the cabbage is so named because of its popularity with the hotel guests or if it was prominent in Victor Emmanuel II's potager. In any case, it gives reliable January greenery in the alpine regions and beyond. As ever, these are somewhat smaller than your supermarket versions but I shall claim to be growing meal-sized specimens to avoid having cut cabbage getting browned off in the fridge.

A simple hearty and very satisfying winter supper repeated on a weekly cycle up here is a version of clapshot/ rumbledethumps/ colcannon. [I prefer the name clapshot but that seems to use neep rather true cabbage.] Ingredients are butter, leeks (or onions), diced waxy potatoes (pink fir apple, still abundant in the pantry though starting to sprout), cabbage and cheese (I recommend gruyere or perhaps a Tomme de Savoie from your cheese specialist). Saute the ingredients adding them in sequence to make sure everything is tender at the same time. You may want to par-boil the potatoes to speed it up. Finish under the grill with the cheese and serve with plenty of black pepper.