A fresh, clean and aromatic alternative to the booze-laden hot toddy is a scented ginger tea, made by adding just-boiled water to a glass containing a curl of clementine or orange, a squeeze of lemon juice and a few thin coins of fresh ginger. The steam alone, aromatic and heavy with citrus, feels as if it will heal a cold or subdue a dose of flu, but without the numbing effect of alcohol.
Shredded in a stir-fry of chicken and oyster sauce; pickled in rice vinegar and eaten with sushi; preserved in syrup; coated in dark chocolate; floating in that steaming hot toddy… I love ginger whichever way it comes. In any form, ginger brings with it a subtle warmth rather than heat; a gentle kick and one that Ifind slightly addictive.
Ginger will often provide the backbone, usually with garlic and spring onion, for many a Chinese or Thai recipe, but a piece of the root, pale skinned and plump, is useful to finish a dish, too. Cut a small square, stuff it into a garlic press and squeeze hard. The meagre raindrops of juice that emerge will brighten a piece of grilled chicken, a fillet of mackerel or, I discovered this week, a slice of raw salmon. You can grate it, too, including it in a marinade for chicken or pork that is to be grilled or roasted.
My fridge is almost never without a sachet of sushi ginger, the ivory shavings of pickled root (it's arhizome really, like galangal or common-or-garden iris) will cure almost any craving, sweet or savoury. But recently I have a more satisfying answer. One of my favourite writers, David Tanis, has a recipe that is both pleasingly straightforward and satisfying. In his delightful new book, One Good Dish, he slices ginger and marinates it in rice-wine vinegar, salt and sugar – a basic pickling mixture – then gives it a little earthy sweetness with a slice or two of raw beetroot. The colour is dazzling, the flavour exhilarating. Like parmesan, anchovies and a lemon or two, this pickled ginger has earned apermanent place in my fridge.
Baked salmon with beetroot and ginger
Serves 2
salmon tail 500g
fresh ginger 50g
raw beetroot 1, large
groundnut oil 8 tbsp
Peel the ginger root and the raw beetroot, cut each into large pieces, then put them in the bowl of a food processor. Process the beetroot and ginger until finely crushed, pouring in the groundnut oil as you go.
Pour the beetroot mixture into asealable plastic bag then slice in the salmon tail fillet and close the bag so that none of the marinade can escape. Place in the fridge and leave for a minimum of 4 hours.
Set the oven at 180C/gas mark 4.
Place the fish and a little of its marinade in a roasting tin. The rest has done its job and can be discarded. Season the fish with salt and black pepper, cover loosely with kitchen foil and place in the preheated oven for 12 minutes.
Remove the foil, and continue roasting the fish for a further 8 minutes then remove from the oven, place the foil over the top to keep the fish warm, and leave to rest for 5 minutes. Serve on a clean white plate on a bed of watercress or winter leaves.
Home-pickled ginger
This recipe is based on David Tanis's fresh pickled ginger from his new book, One Good Dish (Artisan, £17.99).
caster sugar 1.5 tbsp
sea salt 1.5 tsp
rice vinegar 5 tbsp
fresh ginger 250g
raw beetroot 3 thin slices
Put the caster sugar and salt in alarge Kilner or screw-topped glass jar and pour in the rice vinegar. Stir or shake the ingredients in the jar until the salt has dissolved.
Peel the ginger then slice it finely into strips or rounds, as thinly as you can. Ideally, each piece should be almost transparent. Submerge the ginger, as best you can, in the vinegar solution. Peel the beetroot and add to the jar. Shake the jar so that the ginger and beetroot are covered.
Leave, at room temperature for a minimum of 5 hours, then refrigerate until needed. It will keep for two or three weeks in the fridge.
A ginger toddy
This steaming mixture of whisky, spices, lemon juice and honey is pretty successful at seeing off awinter chill, but adding ginger to it works even better. If, by any chance, you happen to have a jar of preserved ginger in syrup handy, then add some of the syrup to the mixture, too.
Makes 1
honey 1 tsp
whisky 1 measure
syrup from a jar of preserved ginger 1 tsp (optional)
fresh ginger 3 thick coins
cloves 2
cinnamon stick a short length
lemon juice to taste
Put the honey, whisky and, if you are using it, the ginger syrup in amug or heatproof glass. Drop in the ginger, then add the cloves and the stick of cinnamon. Top up the glass with just-off-the-boil water from the kettle. Stir in a slice of lemon and just enough lemon juice to balance the sweetness of the honey. Leave to cool briefly before sipping slowly.
Email Nigel at nigel.slater@observer.co.uk. Follow Nigel on Twitter @NigelSlater
