Winter Root Slaw with Parsnip and Beetroot

January. The garden is bare except for the parsnips, which have been in the ground since autumn and are sweeter for the frost. The celeriac is still good, solid and dense, and there are beetroot in the box from the market, their skins still dusty with earth. This is what winter gives you if you pay attention.

A slaw doesn't have to mean cabbage. When the summer heads are long gone and the coleslaws of August feel like another life, the root vegetables step in and do something arguably better. Raw parsnip has a sweetness and a pepperiness that catches you off guard if you've only ever had it roasted. Celeriac, grated coarsely, brings a quiet celery warmth. And beetroot, that most generous of roots, turns the whole bowl into something you'd actually want to look at on a grey afternoon.

The dressing is mustardy and sharp, mayonnaise loosened with cider vinegar and lemon so it coats rather than smothers. You want to taste the vegetables, not mask them. A recipe is a conversation, not a contract, so adjust the balance to your own mouth. More mustard, less lemon, a bit more oil if you like things gentler. Your kitchen, your rules.

I make this through the cold months and take it to other people's tables when asked to bring something. It sits happily for hours, travels without complaint, and looks after itself while you get on with everything else. I wrote it down in the notebook last February: parsnip, beetroot, mustard, rain on the window. That was enough to remember it by.