Christmas and the New Year celebrations are over. The last of the turkey soup has been supped, the bottle bank has been visited - at least twice - and endless sacks of wrapping paper have been re-cycled.

Now is not the time to be thinking of red wine and chocolate... or is it?

Over the holidays the one topic of conversation that followed me about was the healthy attributes of fish, red wine and chocolate.

Rich in antioxidants, experts had told us that they would stave off heart attacks and add five to seven years to our lives.

"But", people kept asking me, "can you have them all together?"

The simple answer is yes and here is my suggested menu.

Start with some suitable oily fish, say fresh sardines, lightly grilled and served with a chilled ros. These pink wines start out as red from which a quantity has been bled off and made as a white wine.

My choice would be Inycon Cabernet Ros 2003, a Sicilian pink (£4.99 from Morrisons).

For the main course how about poached salmon, new potatoes and plenty of peas and beans or a fresh green salad dressed with olive oil and lemon juice.

And to drink? A red Cabernet Franc from the Loire served very lightly chilled; Domaine Lavigne Saumur-Champigny Viellies Vigne - old vines - 2002 (£7.99 from Oddbins). Wines from old vines have a lot more character.

And to finish one of those absolutely delectable double chocolate mousses made with lashings of real dark chocolate high in cocoa butter and double cream. The sort of pudding that just won't drop off the spoon!

With this you should serve nothing less than a 10-year old Tawny Port, that has been aged in oak casks. Take for example the Qunita do Noval (£15.25 from Waitrose) whose caramelised orange and figgy fruit flavours will meld magnificently with the mousse.

There is no doubt that you wouldn't want to eat that sort of food every day, but antioxidants have a very short life and constantly need topping up. So two or three glasses of red wine each day, always with your main meal, will maintain their levels and help keep you healthy. But do remember that like most medicines the dose has to be taken regularly and always with food.

Don't try and store it up for a weekend binge. That's a real killer!

The winner of Philippe Boucheron's Friday, December 31, competition was Andrew Goode of Areley Common, Stourport-on-Severn, who correctly identified Dom Prignon as the monk who is often credited with creating champagne.

Mr Goode wins a bottle of Alain Thienot champagne.