I was lucky enough to meet Claudia Roden in 1997 when I was working for NPR and I am pleased to report that she was charming, gracious, and chatted to me for way longer than she needed to.

This is a simplified version of Claudia’s recipe. Fed 2 hungry boys and their dad.

• pack of 4 chicken thighs (I used fillets but this would be even better with skin-on unfilleted chicken)
• 1 onion
• half a big pack of smoked bacon lardons
• 2 fat cloves of garlic
• 500ml apple cider
• as many salad / waxy potatoes as you want, halved
• 2 handfuls of frozen peas
• salt, pepper, olive oil

Chop & gently fry the onion in a casserole dish until it starts to go soft, then add the lardons and then the chicken on a higher hear. Season well with salt & pepper. When the chicken is browning nicely, add the chopped garlic and continue to fry. Before the garlic can burn, add the cider, and the peas. We cooked the potatoes separately but I would suggest adding them to the pot now. Reduce heat to a simmer and put a lid on.

Cook for 30 min and serve on soup plates with crusty bread to mop up the sublime juice.

mulled cider ingredients

The best mulled cider I ever had was last Christmas when I stumbled upon the heavenly Somerset Cider Brandy caravan – truly a caravan of love – in Covent Garden in London. I’d love to know how they make it, but I guess this recipe from Vigo Presses must be close:

• 1 litre cider
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 3 cloves
• 1 star anise
• pinch nutmeg
• small bit of bruised stem ginger
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• lemon juice to taste
• slug of Somerset Cider Brandy

Combine and simmer for 20 mins but do not boil.

Okay – I have actually made this now and it wasn’t as nice as the stuff I had last Christmas off Julian Temperley’s caravan in Covent Garden – but I was using an old bottle of Cornish scrumpy not fine Somerset cider. When most of it was gone I made a new batch with the same spices and used apple juice as well. It was delicious – especially with a nip of the aforementioned Somerset Cider Brandy.

We shared it with Marian the Custard Tart who spookily had just brought us the largest cinnamon stick I have ever seen – it must be 12 inches long. I was tempted to stir the spiced apple juice with it but will have to ponder on uses for it.