The colder months call for a certain letting go, particularly when it comes to the diet. As our bodies are secreted under layers of wool, there's no need for calorie counting. At least in my opinion. Thus this week the recipes of our contributing cook Elizabeth Hewson are perfectly of the season. Her lamb and potato pie and sticky date and ginger beer pudding are made for dipping into and second helpings. Delicious, hearty and perfectly warming.

Canadian celebrity chef Matty Matheson is well known to many for his role in The Bear. His cookbooks are also international best sellers, featuring his hearty, full-flavoured dishes. This week we have two soups from his current cookbook, Soups, Salads and Sandwiches. Matheson says he would eat soup three times a day given the chance, and with these recipes you can see why.

Happy (winter) cooking.

Cellar director John Lehmann offers something a little mysterious this week. Check out this week's offer here for a brilliant New Zealand chardonnay and an equally good Kiwi pinot noir for a saving of $78 in a super six offer Details here.

Should we still be eating red meat? The answer to that, apparently, lies in which research you read. Unsurprisingly, surveys conducted by the meat industry say we should be eating more meat. "Researchers have now confirmed a pattern: if a peer-reviewed study was funded by the meat industry, its findings were far more likely to allow red meat as part of a healthy diet," says a report published this week in The Australian. It's a minefield. Read the report here.