Birch Tree Wine

A tapped birch can give around 4 litres of sap over 24 hours (above). Fermented with lemon and raisins, it makes a lovely wine 

Birch tree wine

4 litres of birch sap (as fresh as possible - see the feature on page 36 of February's The Simple Things for how to tap a birch tree)
1kg sugar
200g raisins
Juice of 2 lemons
5g wine yeast (1 sachet)

You will need:
1 large bucket
2 x 4.5 litre demijohns with airlocks*
Sieve
Funnel
4 or 5 x 750ml bottles

1 Give everything a good scrub and sterilise with hot soapy water. Put the sap in a large pan and bring to the boil. Add the sugar and simmer for around 10 mins until the sugar dissolves. Pour into the sterilised bucket and add the raisins and lemon juice. Leave to cool.
2 ‘Activate’ the yeast according to the packet instructions and sprinkle into the bucket. Cover loosely with a cloth and leave to ferment for around 3 days at room temperature.
3 Strain out the raisins and decant into into one of the demijohns. Seal with an airlock. Leave upright in a warm, darkish place for around 4 weeks. Sediment will collect at the bottom of the jar.
4 Decant the liquid into the second demijohn without disturbing the sediment and seal again with an airlock. Discard the sediment. Leave upright in a warm, darkish place until fermentation is complete (when no more air bubbles rise into the airlock). This could take another 4 weeks.
5 Decant the liquid into your sterilised wine bottles, again without disturbing the sediment and seal. Discard the sediment.
6 Store the bottles on their sides in a cool place (if you’re using corks, make sure they’re tight!) and leave to ‘age’ for at least 3 months. Best after a year, if you can wait that long!
 
* For wine-making supplies, try homebrewcentre.co.uk or wilko.com.

Recipe by Kate Turner.
 

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A could-do list for February

Things you might want to do this month (no pressure!)

• A could-do list for February
• Eat syrupy pancakes for breakfast
• Read a short story in one go
• Wander around your local park
• Stop every two hours and focus on your breath
• Go out with friends (even when you don’t feel like it)
• Do your food shopping somewhere different
• Write down five things that recently made you smile

What would you add? Come over and tell us on Facebook or Twitter. 

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Things you could give up for Lent

Not planning on giving up chocolate for Lent? Try one of these ideas instead.

Plastic bottles

Carry your own drinking bottle and drink tap water.

News

It can provoke anxiety so give yourself a break every now and then.

Social media

Speak to those you care about and remain blissfully unaware of those you don’t.

Waste

Buy food locally and more frequently to avoid waste and get savvy with sell-by dates and leftovers.

Gossiping

It creates negative energy. If you haven’t got anything nice to say...

What would you add? What are you giving up? Come over and tell us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

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Breathe | February cover reveal

Peek out from under the duvet. Yes, it’s still winter but there are signs of season’s end. It’s time to wrap up, get out there and blow off some cobwebs. A beach walk could work, a potter in the garden or a wander through the woods, all bare branches and new views. Dusk is still early, leaving a lamplit evening for a mindful project or making a meal of dinner for one. And when the dark night settles, come full circle back to your duvet. Sometimes love is nothing more than a warm bed, a hot drink and a good book. 

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Recipe | Fluffy Banana Sultana Pancakes

The best thing about February? Pancakes, of course. Bananas and sultanas are meant for each other, especially when snuggled up together in a tender pancake like this.

Makes 8
100g self-raising flour
1⁄2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 large ripe banana, mashed, plus sliced banana to serve
100ml whole milk
1 large egg
1 tbsp melted butter
40g sultanas
Melted butter or vegetable oil, for frying
Runny honey or maple syrup, to serve

1 In a mixing bowl, add the flour, baking powder, a pinch of salt, the cinnamon, the mashed banana, milk, egg, and melted butter and gently whisk the wet ingredients into the dry until well combined. Be careful not to overbeat the mixture or the pancakes will be tough; some small lumps are fine. Stir in the sultanas.

2 Heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and brush with butter or oil. Drop 60ml batter into the pan and cook for about 1 min, or until golden underneath. Adjust the heat as needed to ensure the pancakes don’t burn before they’re cooked through. Flip and cook for a further 30 seconds to 1 min. Repeat with rest of the batter.

3 Serve straight from the pan or keep warm in an oven preheated to 150C/Fan 130F/ 300F while you cook the remaining batter.

4 Serve the pancakes with slices of banana and a drizzle of honey or maple syrup.

Recipe from Posh Pancakes by Sue Quinn (Quadrille)
 

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Growing | Hydroponics

No longer the preserve of commercial growers, hydroponics - a soil-less method of growing leafy veg - is made for urban edible-gardeners. 

Growing veg can be tricky if you don't have a garden to cultivate or a sunny balcony to fill with tubs. Redemption for would-be urban gardeners, however, could lie with hydroponics, a controlled method of growing plants in water rather than soil

But what to grow?

Stick to leafy salad veg and herbs for the best results. Which varieties you choose to grow will depend on the size of your growing system: the lights of the Ikea Indoor Gardening System, for example, are 30cm above the growing tray, so any plants that grow taller than that won't fit. Plant 1-3 seeds per plug, depending on the plant, and remember that different seeds germinate at different rates. You should see plants with leaves big enough to eat after 5-7 weeks. 

Cherry tomatoes

Small tomatoes often planted in containers will also suit hydroponic systems. 'Balconi Red', 'Bajaja' and 'Sweet 'n' Neat Cherry Red' are all nice and compact.

Chillies

Smaller varieties such as 'Krakatoa' and 'Basket of Fire' will fit hydroponic systems best, but taller plants can be pinched out to encourage width rather than height. 

Lettuce

Most varieties will flourish in a hydroponic system. Ones with looser leaves such as Lollo Rossa, Cos (red and green) and Butterhead varieties suit hydroponic cropping better than tightly packed ones like Iceberg.

Other leaves

Pick the leaves of spinach, rocket, pak choi, oriental mustard and garden cress when they are young for best flavour. They are often found together in salad leaves seed mixes. 

Herbs 

A handful of fresh herbs in snipping distance is a boon to any cook. Most thrive in hydroponic conditions: try basil, chives, coriander, mint, parsley or lemon balm. 

Turn to page 106 of February's The Simple Things for more of our feature on Hydroponics, including what you need to start out. 

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Spinach, sausage and orzo soup

This spinach, sausage and orzo soup offers a whole meal and a big dose of comfort in one bowl for those midwinter days when you want dinner on
the sofa and minimal washing up.

Serves 4
6 plump sausages (ideally with lots of onion or garlic)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, roughly chopped
1 stick of celery, diced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tbsp tomato purée
A generous pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
A small pinch of dried oregano
800ml chicken or vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
100g orzo or other small pasta
150g spinach, stems removed, roughly chopped
2 tbsp single or double cream 

TO SERVE:
Fresh parsley, chopped
Fresh basil, chopped
Freshly grated parmesan

1 Remove the sausage casings and shape the meat into little meatballs. Place the oil in a heavy-based pan with a lid over a medium-high heat and add the sausage meatballs. Brown them all over, then lift out and set aside. Turn the heat down to medium and to the same pan add the onion, carrot and celery, and season; sauté for 10 mins, until soft and beginning to brown.
2 Add garlic and tomato purée and cook, stirring for 2 mins. Next, add the nutmeg, oregano, stock and bay leaf and bring to a simmer. Cook for 10 mins.
3 Add the orzo*, spinach and meatballs and simmer for 4 mins, or until the orzo and meatballs are cooked. Remove from the heat, add the cream and remove the bay leaf and check seasoning.
4 Serve in wide bowls, and garnish with herbs and parmesan.

Recipe from Leon Happy Soups by Rebecca Seal and John Vincent (Conran Octopus).

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Listen | Break up songs

What becomes of the broken hearted? They sit around and listen to sad songs…

Listen to our break up songs playlist now.

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Storytelling

Once upon a time...

...we used to tell stories and now we probably don’t so much. It’s National Storytelling Week this month (28 Jan–3 Feb) – a great reason to rediscover the delights of the spoken story

Many of us stop reading aloud or making up stories when we don’t have children to read to, but there’s nothing to stop you from reading to your partner or a friend – it can be a surprisingly bonding experience, great for a winter’s night.

Or, you could offer to read to an elderly relative or neighbour or volunteer in a local care home. To Read Aloud by Francesco Dimitri (Head of Zeus) is a collection of 75 extracts from different writers with time taken to read aloud from just 3 to 15 minutes. Choose from themed chapters (change, love, nature etc).

As you get more confident with reading aloud, try making up your own stories. Base them on your own experiences if you find it easier and visualise (rather than write) the beginning, middle and end, before you start. For inspiration, try going to a storytelling event – there are plenty this month (see sfs.org.uk).

For a bit of fun at home, play a storytelling game, such as Rory’s Story Cubes, where you roll the ‘dice’ and create a tale using all the pictures. Board games such as Tell Tale (for younger families) and The Awkward Story Teller (for adults and teenagers) work well, too.

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Marmite and cheddar welsh rarebit

Winter comfort food doesn’t get much better than this

Serves 2
4 slices sourdough
20g unsalted butter
20g plain flour
200ml amber ale
100g mature cheddar, finely grated, plus extra for sprinkling
1–2 tsp Marmite, to taste

1 Preheat grill to high. Toast the sourdough, either under the grill or in a toaster.
2 Put the butter in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Once the butter has completely melted, add the flour and beat to a thick paste with a wooden spoon.
3 Still on the heat, add a splash of the ale and beat in. The mixture will turn into a very thick paste but just keep beating. Add the ale gradually, beating well after each addition. As the mixture gets looser, switch to a whisk and whisk continuously, while pouring in the ale – it’s easier to get rid of any lumps while the mixture is thicker, so whisk like your life depends on it and add the ale gradually. Allow the sauce to come to
a boil then reduce to a gentle simmer and leave it to cook for about 10 mins,
stirring occasionally.
4 Once the floury taste has cooked out of the sauce – test it to be sure – add a generous pinch of black pepper (I wouldn’t use any salt until the end as Marmite can season this enough). Add the cheese and stir over a low heat until melted. Add the Marmite a little at a time, to taste – you may think more is more, but do go carefully; a little goes a long way. Taste for seasoning, adding more pepper and salt if required.
5 Spoon the sauce onto the slices of toast and sprinkle over a little more grated cheese. Place under the hot grill for a minute or two, until the sauce bubbles up and burnished, blackened little flecks appear.

Recipe from Comfort by John Whaite (Kyle Books). 

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Vietnamese lemongrass tea

A simple, aromatic brew that’s brilliant for taming achy tummies, soothing coughs and helping to prevent colds and flu

Makes 2x250ml servings
4 lemongrass stems
1 thumb-sized piece of ginger
1⁄2-1 tbsp coconut sugar or raw honey, to taste
Lime slices to garnish (optional)

1 In a medium saucepan, bring 600ml water to a boil over a high heat. Bash and cut the lemongrass into thin shreds. Peel and julienne the ginger. Add both to the water and boil for 5 mins.
2 Reduce the heat to low and simmer the tea for an additional 5 mins. Sweeten to taste with coconut sugar or honey.
3 Serve warm, or refrigerate and serve over ice, garnished with lime slices.

WHY LEMONGRASS?
With its distinct lemon flavour and citrussy aroma, lemongrass offers an impressive array of medicinal benefits. The main component of the grass is lemonal, a compound that has powerful antiseptic and astringent qualities. It’s widely used in Southeast Asia for its well-reputed health benefits that also include lowering cholesterol, treating insomnia, improving respiratory function and aiding digestion.

Recipe from Tonics & Teas by Rachel de Thample (Kyle Books)

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How to cross a frozen lake

No skating on thin ice, if you follow these solid suggestions

Be prepared
Don’t go alone. Carry 15m of rope, an ice pick or ice claws, as well as warm, thick clothes in a waterproof bag.

Study the ice
Clear blue, black or green ice is strongest. Avoid white, milky ice and danger signs including slush, cracks and seams. Ice underneath snow will also be thin and weak. 

How to move
With your ice pick, measure the ice depth at least every 50 metres. 10cm of clear, newly formed ice can support walking (20–30cm, a small car). Wear skis or snowshoes and, in a group, walk about 15 metres apart.

If you fall in...
Keep clothes on but lose shoes. Put your hands and arms on the ice and kick. Use your claws to pull yourself onto the surface, then roll away from the broken ice. Change into dry clothes and seek shelter and hot drinks.

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Escape | Head for the (little) hills

Often overshadowed by mountains, our lesser peaks are easier to get to, take less time to climb, and are, of course, masses of fun

Entice the unwilling
Ways to ensure your outing isn’t all an uphill struggle

Make it a treasure hunt
Do the walk yourself first and hide sweets or treats under rocks or in trees, and then draw a map. Kids will love it.

Share your kit
It’s hard to surrender your favourite waterproof, but you want your friends/family to have a great time and come again, so make sure they stay warm and dry.

Plan rewards
Surprise companions with their favourite chocolate bar or sandwich – or take them to an unexpected point of interest or time your arrival for sunset – it will make them yearn for more.

Turn to page 69 of January's The Simple Things for more on our guide to climbing hills.

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Tastebud travels | Aloo gobi

Homemade rather than takeaway, this dry, potato and cauliflower curry is a revelation. Originally from the Punjab, it is now popular across India and Pakistan.

Serves 2 (or 4 as a side)
3 medium potatoes
1 medium cauliflower
4–5 tbsp vegetable or rapeseed oil
1⁄2 tsp block mustard seeds
About 12 fenugreek seeds
1⁄2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ground coriander
1⁄2 tsp each of ground turmeric and ground cumin
1–2 dried red chillies, finely chopped
1 fresh green chilli, finely chopped
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
4 tbsp frozen peas (optional)

TO GARNISH
Finely chopped fresh red chilli
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
Shavings of fresh coconut

1 Boil the potatoes in their skins until just tender when pierced with a skewer. Drain, leave to cool completely and then peel and cut into chunks.
2 Blanch the cauliflower in a pan of boiling water for 2 mins. Drain, cool and divide into small florets.
3 Heat the oil in a large shallow pan, add the mustard seeds and fry until they begin to pop. Add the fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds and ground spices, along with the chillies and onion. Stir well and fry over a low heat until the onion is soft and golden brown – approx 10 mins.
4 Add the cauliflower, cover the pan and cook for 5 mins or until almost tender. Add the peas (if using) and potato chunks, season with salt and re-cover the pan. Cook for l0 mins or until the potatoes are heated through. 
5 Serve garnished with chopped red chilli and coriander leaves, plus shavings of fresh coconut. 
 

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Nest | Oxalis

For a plant with such theatrical qualities – its purple leaves track the light and fold up at night like butterfly wings – an oxalis is remarkably low maintenance. Alice Howard, owner of Botanique Workshop, artisan store and flower shop, recommends adding grit to the pot, and feeding every so often. And don’t give up on it during winter when it dies back – it will recover in spring and reward you with pretty lilac flowers in summer.

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How to interpret your dreams

Looking for definite answers? You must be dreaming

Attempts at dream decoding date back centuries – think of Joseph interpreting Pharaoh’s dream in the Bible (or, indeed, in the Lloyd Webber musical), for example.

Although there are hundreds of ‘dream dictionaries’ available, they are generally lacking any factual back-up – very broad links is about as far as scientists have got. But while you might not figure out exactly what that particularly vivid dream was supposed to mean, there are other useful ways to consider our dreams that can help us in our everyday (real) lives:
       

• Because most believe dreams provide insight, they do affect our behaviour. For example, people asked to imagine they dreamt about a plane crash the night before a trip were more likely to cancel than if a real crash had happened. The dream also produced a similar level of anxiety as a real crash.
• If a dream has produced a strong reaction, it’s probably worth taking the time to reflect on it, and ask yourself if it bears any logical relation to your waking hours – even if that simply means less cheese before bed.

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Nest | Sleep kit

With just a few adjustments, you can turn an ordinary bedroom into a decadent den of slumber

• Choose the right bedlinen and bedclothes If you get chilly, brushed cotton is snug and comforting. If you easily overheat (or have hot flushes) opt for silk or bamboo, both of which wick away heat. Silk pillowcases are heavenly – keeping your head cool and preventing wrinkles. Patra (patra.com) has a great selection of all these.
   
• Play a relaxation track
  Headphones are impractical when you’re trying to sleep, so play your favourite music or coloured noise through your pillow. Try the Sound Asleep Pillow (£19.99, soundasleeppillow.co.uk).
   
• Spritz your pillow with a sweet-scented mist Try Tisserand’s Sweet Dreams (£12.95; tisserand.com) or Calm Sleep Mist (£19.99; calm.com/uk/sleep-mist).
   
• Wake up gradually with increasing light courtesy of the Lumie Bodyclock (£59.95; lumie.com), which helps to reset your Circadian rhythm. The fading sunset light is also the ideal wind-down.
   
• Combine light, sound and aromatherapy with the dinky Alto Aroma Diffuser (£79.99; madebyzen.com). It mists your bedroom for an hour at a time, and you can play soothing sounds via its Bluetooth speaker.
   
• Add slumber-friendly potions to your bedtime bath or shower
  Try Bloom and Blossom’s Sleep Night-Time Bath Oil (£25; bloomandblossom.com) or Spa Magik Organiks’ Deep Sleep Lavender Bath Salts (£12.50; magikorganiks.com), which also contain sleep-friendly magnesium.
   
• Sip a soporific herbal Pukka NightTime (£2.49; pukkaherbs.com) and Free Soul Sleep Tea (£6; herfreesoul.com) sedate and soothe.

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Recipe | Good morning pizza

Start the day with a breakfast worth lingering over

Serves 2
Readymade pizza dough, halved to form 2 circles
2 eggs
Baby spinach
Grated cheddar or mozzarella
Pine nuts

1 Preheat oven to 220C/Fan 200C/ 425F. Spread about 4 tbsp grated cheese over each base. Top with roughly chopped baby spinach leaves making a slight ‘nest’ in the centre.
2 Carefully break an egg in the centre. Sprinkle the pine nuts around the egg.
3 Bake for 15 mins, or until the base is brown and crisp and the egg has set. Season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper, and serve. 

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Recipe | Spinach and lemon bars

News just in: you can get your greens from eating cake. No, really. Cake that tastes nice. These lemon-curd filled bars get their green stripe with the addition of spinach to the shortbread base. Almost virtuous!

SPINACH AND LEMON BARS
Makes 16
75g spinach leaves
75g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
2 tbsp caster sugar, plus extra to finish
115g plain flour
FOR THE FILLING
4 large free-range eggs
200g granulated sugar
150ml lemon juice (from about 4 lemons) 
3 tbsp lemon zest
40g plain flour
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp icing sugar, to serve

1 Preheat oven to 180C/Fan 160C/350F. Grease and line a 20cm square baking tin. 
2 Wilt the spinach in a pan with a small amount of boiling water, then run under cold water to refresh, before squeezing out the moisture. Purée with a hand blender until smooth.
3 In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until smooth, but not too fluffy and aerated. Add the spinach pureé and beat well. Sift in the flour and mix gently.
4 Pour the mixture into the prepared pan, spread to the edges and press down firmly with the back of a damp spoon. Be sure that the mixture goes right into all the edges and there aren’t any holes. Bake for 25 mins, or until the edges begin to turn golden.
5 Meanwhile, make the lemon filling by whisking the eggs and sugar in a saucepan until well combined, then add the lemon juice and zest and gently whisk until completely incorporated. Gradually sift in the flour, whisking gently to combine, and add the butter. Heat the mixture, stirring constantly, until thickened and the butter has melted.
6 Spoon the mixture over the warm crust, spread evenly to the edges and bake for 25 mins, or until the edges begin to turn golden. The filling will firm up as it cools. Leave to cool completely in the pan, then dust with the icing sugar and cut into squares to serve.

Recipe and photography from Veggie Desserts + Cakes by Kate Hackworthy (Pavilion)
 

Cake in the House is our monthly recipe feature - get a cake recipe every month in The Simple Things!

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How to create a personal almanac

In January, we look forward and our diaries become our close companions. But, poised between two years, it’s also a time to look back, and diaries, journals and almanacs are also a tool for reflection. As we turn the first page of a new year, we explore their history, purpose and what they mean to us on page 80 of January's The Simple Things.

How to create a personal almanac

Cover your own local area, festivities and personal celebrations, and use it as a guide through your own year. Buy a notebook, mark out the months and divide it into topics that interest you, perhaps...

1 Look up dates for local festivities and fetes and mark them in their correct month in your almanac. Add family birthdays, personal traditions and anniversaries.

2 Are there recipes that you revisit every year? A special birthday cake recipe? Your mum’s twist on marmalade? Even a recipe from a cookbook that you return to again and again for a summer barbecue or an autumnal dinner. Pop it in so that it is easy to find.

3 Moon phases, and moon and sun rises and sets will vary – if only by minutes – by area. Find yours. A great source is timeanddate.com.

4 Leave space to note the flowering of bluebells in your local woods, the arrival of the swifts, and the first touches of autumn on the trees.    

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