We're all determined not to waste a second of this outdoor Summer (while still being super careful) — and certainly even those of us who love to cook don't want to spend any longer than necessary 'over a hot stove' or for that matter over a sink full of washing up.
So here's the plan, let's confine our meals to one roasting tin and perhaps a bowl of crunchy lettuces, salad leaves and soft herbs. Once you get on the ‘one tray’ track, it's like a game. It's amazing what combinations you can conjure up — a whole meal on just one roasting tin.
So this week, I've got something for everyone — meat and fish lovers, vegetarians, vegans. And all the recipes are substantial enough to feed a family.
Baked Plaice, Turbot or Brill with potatoes, fennel and herb butter
recipe by:Darina Allen
This very simple 'master recipe' for flat fish is delicious served with hollandaise sauce, mousseline or beurre blanc in place of the herb butter
Servings
2
Preparation Time
20 mins
Cooking Time
22 mins
Total Time
42 mins
Course
Main
Ingredients
450g potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
175g onions, thinly sliced
½ fennel bulb, very thinly sliced
extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
1 x 1-1.75kg fresh plaice, turbot, brill or other flat fish on the bone
flaky sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
For the herb butter:
110g butter, softened
4 tsp finely chopped mixed herbs (flat-leaf parsley, chives, fennel and thyme leaves)
Method
Preheat the oven to 250°C.
Toss together the thinly sliced potatoes, onions and fennel in a bowl. Drizzle lightly with extra virgin olive oil, season with salt and spread evenly on an approx. 30 x 50cm baking tray. Bake for 5 minutes while you prepare the fish.
Turn the fish on its side and remove the head if you wish; I prefer to leave the fish whole. Wash the fish and clean the slit by the head very thoroughly. Using a sharp knife, cut through the skin right around the fish, just where the ‘fringe’ meets the flesh. Be careful to cut neatly and to cross the side cuts at the tail or it will be difficult to remove the skin later on.
Season both sides of the fish with salt and pepper and lay on top of the partly cooked vegetables. Bake for 17–20 minutes until the vegetables are tender and the fish is cooked. To check if the fish is cooked, lift the flesh from the bone at the head: once it is ready, it should lift off the bone easily and be quite white with no traces of pink.
To make the herb butter, mix the softened butter in a little bowl with the herbs.
Just before you are about to serve, catch the skin down near the tail of the fish and pull it off gently (the skin will tear badly if it hasn’t been properly cut). Bring to the table and serve from the dish or lift the two fillets onto a hot plate and coat with the herb butter. Raise the tail and carefully lift the bone off the remainder of the fish. Break at the head and put aside. Carefully lift the remaining two fillets onto the plate. Coat with the herb butter and surround with the potatoes, onions and fennel, which should be deliciously charred at the edges. Serve immediately.
Chicken supper in a dish with aïoli
recipe by:Darina Allen
Tumble all of the ingredients together in a bowl, season them well and toss them into a roasting tin for an irresistible one-dish supper
Servings
8
Preparation Time
10 mins
Cooking Time
60 mins
Total Time
1 hours 10 mins
Course
Main
Ingredients
2kg potatoes
225-275g medium onions, sliced into rings
8-10 large chicken legs, separated into thighs and drumsticks
1 large head of garlic, separated into cloves
1-2 tbsp sweet or smoked paprika (or a mixture of both)
2 tbsp marjoram, chopped
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
flaky sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
To serve:
3-4 large ripe tomatoes
dash of balsamic vinegar, to taste
dash of honey or sugar, to taste
3-4 sprigs of flat-leaf parsley
For the aïoli:
2 egg yolks
1-2 garlic cloves
pinch of English mustard or 1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
¼ tsp flaky sea salt
2 tsp white wine vinegar
250ml oil
2 tsp flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Method
Preheat the oven to 230°C.
Peel the potatoes and cut them into chunky wedges. Put them into a large bowl with the sliced onion rings, chicken pieces and garlic cloves and sprinkle over the paprika, marjoram and plenty of salt and pepper. Drizzle generously with the extra virgin olive oil and squeeze over the lemon juice. Toss thoroughly to coat the potatoes and the chicken in the flavourings. Spread in a single layer over a large roasting tray or a large gratin dish, approximately 35 x 40cm.
Roast for 15–20 minutes, then reduce the heat to a moderate 180°C for a further 45 minutes or until the potatoes are golden and crisp at the edges and the chicken skin, is sticky and irresistible. Check the chicken is cooked close to the bone; it may take a little longer.
Coarsely chop the tomatoes and place them in a small bowl. Season to taste with salt, freshly ground black pepper, balsamic vinegar and honey (or sugar). Stir in the parsley. Sprinkle the tomato mixture over the hot chicken just as it comes out of the oven.
Accompany with the aïoli and a salad of organic leaves anointed with an extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice dressing.
To make the aïoli, put the egg yolks into a bowl with the garlic, mustard, salt and vinegar. Pour the oil(s) into a measuring jug. Taking a whisk in one hand and the oil in the other, carefully drip the oil onto the egg yolks, drop by drop, whisking at the same time. Within a minute, you will notice that the mixture is beginning to thicken. When this happens, you can add the oil a little faster — but don’t get too cheeky or it will suddenly curdle because the egg yolks can only absorb the oil at a certain pace.
If the aïoli curdles, it will suddenly become quite thin. If this happens you can quite easily remedy the situation by cracking another egg yolk into a clean bowl and whisking in the curdled aioli, half a teaspoon at a time.
Once all of the oil has been incorporated, beat in the parsley. Taste and add a little more seasoning and vinegar, if necessary.
Anna Jones’s quick chickpea braise with kale and harissa
This is a meal in a pan, a pan full of all the things I want to eat on a cold weeknight and there is little more comforting than that
Servings
4
Preparation Time
10 mins
Cooking Time
15 mins
Total Time
25 mins
Course
Main
Ingredients
olive oil
1 red onion, peeled and thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
2 big handfuls of kale (about 200g), leaves roughly chopped, stems shredded
1 heapedtsp ground turmeric
1 preserved lemon
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
2 tins chickpeas or a 660g (1lb 7oz) jar
bunch of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
To serve:
4tbsp plain yoghurt of your choice
1tbsp harissa
tahini, for drizzling
4 flatbreads
Method
Put a little oil in a large frying pan, add the onion and cook over a medium heat for five minutes.
Once the onions have had five minutes, add the garlic, kale stems (leaves go in later), and turmeric to the pan and cook for a couple of minutes.
While that happens cut the preserved lemon in half, remove and discard the flesh, then finely chop the peel. Add this to the pan along with the tomatoes and the chickpeas, including the liquid. If you are using jarred chickpeas you might want to add another 150ml water here, as there will be less liquid than if you are using two tins.
Cook for about ten minutes, until the tomatoes have thickened and reduced. Add the reserved kale leaves and cook for a few minutes until wilted. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed (the jarred chickpeas are usually already well-seasoned, so be sure to taste first). Stir in most of the parsley.
Ripple the yoghurt and harissa together in a bowl and serve with the braise, a drizzle of tahini, the last of the parsley and some warm flatbreads.
This recipe is from Anna Jones' One Pot, Pan, Planet
Wild & Free
Meadowsweet ( Filipendula ulmaria) is back in season. It’s sometimes called mead wort or Queen of the Meadows. It’s a perennial herb in the Rosaceae family that grows in damp places, meadows and sometimes along the roadside. It flowers from early summer to early autumn. We use it to flavour panna cotta, ice creamand custard. Traditionally it was infused into wine , beer , and vinegars. The flowers can also be added to stewed fruit and jams, giving them a subtle almond flavour. It has many medicinal properties. The whole plant is a traditional remedy for an acidic stomach. The fresh root is often used in hom*oeopathic preparations. The dried flowers are used in potpourri . Look out for it in your area from now until the beginning of October. Recipes to follow in a few weeks.
HOT TIPS
Summer Foraging with Darina Allen at Ballymaloe Cookery School — Learn How to Identify 40 plus foods in the Wild
Friday, August 6, 2021
Foraged foods from local woods, fields, hedgerows and seashore have been an integral part of the menu at Ballymaloe House for more than 40 years — several decades before the current trend for foraging emerged.
Darina, an enthusiastic forager, will take you for a walk in the countryside in search of wild and foraged foods. You’ll be amazed at what can be found even within walking distance. You’ll learn how to identify and use more than 40 seasonal wild food plants, flowers, as well as many foraged foods from the hedgerows. Free ingredients, fresher and tastier and often more nutritious than almost anything you will find in the shops. A walk in the countryside will never be the same again. Where you previously saw weeds, you’ll now see dinner!
Suitable for chefs, professional foragers or for anyone with an interest in foraging for pleasure.
cookingisfun.ie or telephone 021 4646 785
Taste of Dublin
Exciting news…a date for your diary.
Taste of Dublin returns to the Iveagh Gardens from September 1-5, 2021. Over five incredible days, visitors can enjoy Ireland’s latest, greatest and hottest restaurants, mingle with home grown chefs, indulge in gourmet produce, or simply relax and enjoy being outdoors in the city with friends.
dublin.tastefestivals.com
