Eintopf

At this time of year I get out the heavy, orange Le Creuset pan given to me in 1984 and reach for the chopping board, the tin opener and a bottle of red wine.

Lindsey Bareham’s Just One Pot provides inspiration. She wrote a daily recipe in The Times until a couple of years ago and is a safe pair of hands: “delicious, easy meals that can be prepared and enjoyed without having to tackle a mountain of washing up!” That’s what the blurb says but I should take that with a cooks’ pinch of salt. There is always washing-up.

The concept of cooking in a cast-iron pot appeals atavistically to my cave-man ancestry – the Bellews are an old family. My sister once said we are descended from Methusalah. She meant to say we are descended from Admiral Mendoza. However, if one pot cooking is not your thing it’s not compulsory unless you lived in Germany in the 1930s. Hitler and Goebbels asked the German people to make a sacrifice to save fuel and food. One day a week, usually Sunday, luncheon had to be a one-course meal, a stew cooked in one pot – Eintopfgericht. As it happens neither Hitler or Goebbels were gourmets and enjoyed these stews. I am discovering, as I read World War Two Through German Eyes, Hitler was good at micro-management. He espoused re-cycling, interfered with his generals’ campaigns and could raise the morale of the people. Fortunately for us he was not a military strategist and when he invaded Russia, Germany was certain to lose the war. Hitler could not believe that Russia and America would unite against Germany. His advisors didn’t dare correct him. Now I wonder why Japan joined the Axis? But let’s make stew not war.