I get the impression that my most popular recipes are the ones where a whole dish is cooked, from start to finish, in a single vessel. Traybakes, or braises, aren’t necessarily the simplest to prepare (though they very often are), but they are definitely the ones in which the ratio of effort to outcome works best for you. Ingredients spend a long time together, resulting in rounder, more comforting flavours; it’s harder to over- or under-cook your food, so there’s less room for anxiety; and the washing-up is a cinch. It’s cold outside, so do yourself a favour and cook something soothing.
Braised chickpeas with carrots, dates and feta (pictured above)
Serve with rice or flatbreads for a vegetarian main course; leave out the feta for a vegan version. Soaking the chickpeas is necessary to achieve the right degree of cooking, so don’t be tempted to skip this stage.
Prep 30 min
Soak Overnight
Cook 2 hr 25 min
Serves 4-6
300g dried chickpeas, soaked overnight in plenty of cold water and 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
2cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
1 large green chilli, roughly chopped, seeds and all
15g coriander leaves, roughly chopped
75ml olive oil
1½ tsp ground cumin
1½ tsp ground cinnamon
2 medjool dates, pitted and roughly chopped
1 tbsp tomato paste
4 carrots, peeled and each cut at an angle into 2 or 3 large chunks (450g)
2 bay leaves
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
Salt and black pepper
1-2 lemons, zest finely grated, to get 1½ tsp, and juiced, to get 2 tbsp
120g feta, roughly crumbled
1 tsp caraway seeds, toasted and roughly crushed
1-2 tbsp parsley leaves, roughly chopped
Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan)/350F/gas 4. Drain the soaked chickpeas and set aside.
Put the onion, garlic, ginger and chilli in a food processor, and pulse a few times until very finely chopped but not pureed, scraping down the sides of the bowl as you go. Add the coriander, and pulse a couple of times more, just to mix through.
On a medium-high flame, heat two tablespoons of oil in a large, heavy-based cast-iron pot with a lid. Add the onion mixture and cook for about four minutes, stirring occasionally, then stir in the cumin, cinnamon, dates and tomato paste, and cook for a minute more, or until fragrant. Add the drained chickpeas, carrots, bay leaves, bicarbonate of soda, 1.2 litres water and a good grind of black pepper, and bring to a boil, skimming off any froth that comes to the surface. Cover and bake for two hours, or until the chickpeas are very soft and the sauce has turned thick and rich. Stir in the lemon juice and two teaspoons of salt, then leave to cool for about 10 minutes.
While the chickpeas are cooking, put the feta in a small bowl with the caraway, lemon zest, parsley and remaining three tablespoons of olive oil, and leave to marinade.
To serve, spoon the feta mixture over the chickpeas and serve directly from the cooking pot.
Spicy chicken and split-pea tray bake
This traybake is especially nifty because it involves minimal prep and no fancy tricks. Omit the jalapeño and substitute paprika for the chipotle to make this more child-friendly.
Prep 15 min
Cook 1 hr 45 min
Serves 4
4 skin-on chicken legs (1.1kg)
1 orange, quartered
1 jalapeño chilli, cut in half lengthways (or 2 if you like heat)
1 garlic bulb, cut in half widthways
4 banana shallots, peeled and quartered lengthways
1 tsp chipotle chilli flakes
2 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
60ml olive oil
30ml maple syrup
Salt
500ml chicken stock
200g dried green split peas, rinsed
1 tbsp lime juice
1-2 tbsp coriander leaves, roughly chopped
Heat the oven to 220C (200C fan)/425F/gas 7. Put the first eight ingredients in a large bowl with 50ml oil, 20ml maple syrup and a teaspoon and a half of salt, then toss with your hands until the chicken is well coated.
In a separate bowl, combine the stock, 150ml water, the split peas and half a teaspoon of salt.
Pour the peas and stock into a 30cm x 35cm baking dish, then top with the chicken and its marinade, arranging the legs so they are skin side up and spaced apart. Cover the dish tightly with foil, bake for an hour, then remove the foil and brush the chicken with the remaining 10ml each of oil and maple syrup, and sprinkle over an eighth of a teaspoon of salt. Return to the oven, uncovered, for 20 minutes, or until the skin is golden brown and crisp and the peas are cooked through but still retain a little bite. When cool enough to handle, squeeze the garlic cloves out of their papery skins and stir into the peas.
Pour the lime juice evenly over the top, finish with a scattering of coriander and serve hot.
One-tray pork and mushroom pasta
There’s no mistake here: the dry pasta really does go into the sauce uncooked; just be sure to stir it in well, so it cooks evenly. Paccheri are wide pasta tubes that are sold in some supermarkets; failing that, try a good Italian deli. If you can’t find paccheri, use tortiglioni or rigatoni instead.
Prep 25 min
Cook 1 hr 50 min
Serves 6
1 litre chicken stock
30g dried porcini
750g pork mince
350g Cumberland sausages (about 5 sausages), casings discarded
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
3 tbsp tomato paste
⅓ tsp chilli flakes
1 tbsp fennel seeds, roughly crushed
15g sage leaves, roughly chopped
75ml olive oil
60g parmesan, finely grated, plus extra shavings to sprinkle on top
Salt and black pepper
3 celery stalks, (180g), roughly chopped
1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
500g oyster mushrooms, left whole or roughly torn into large pieces
100ml double cream
250g paccheri
70g rocket
For the caper salsa
35g capers, roughly chopped
15g parsley, finely chopped
1 lemon, zest finely grated, to get 1½ tsp, and juiced, to get 1½ tbsp
3 tbsp olive oil
Heat the oven to 240C (220C fan)/465F/gas 9. Put the stock and porcini in a saucepan, bring to a boil, then turn off the heat and leave to cool slightly.
Mix the mince, sausage meat, Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, chilli, fennel, sage, three tablespoons of oil, half the parmesan, one and three-quarters teaspoon of salt and plenty of pepper in a large roasting tray, about 32cm x 26cm. Blitz the celery, onion and garlic in a food processor until finely chopped, then tip into the tray and mix together. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 30 minutes, until golden brown and sizzling, then turn down the heat to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6.
Use a fork to break apart the meat – you don’t want any big clumps – then stir in the oyster mushrooms, the stock and porcini, cream, pasta and remaining two tablespoons of oil. Stir the pasta into the sauce, pushing as much of it under the surface as possible (you might not be able to submerge it all). Return to the oven for 45 minutes, stirring the pasta twice in that time: make sure you stir it all into the sauce, to wet it all over, which will help prevent it going too brown.
Meanwhile, make the salsa by combining all ingredients in a small bowl with a good grind of pepper.
Stir the rocket and remaining grated parmesan through the pasta, then spoon the salsa over the top and leave to cool for 10 minutes before serving with a sprinkling of parmesan shavings.
