Weekends are about relaxing and catching up with friends, be that over a late breakfast, lunch or dinner. Sometimes, we make pancakes for brunch with crisp bacon, blueberries and maple syrup; at others, it’s a dinner after which the tequila comes out and a late night ensues.
But I love weekend lunches the most, probably because they’re generally the easiest to prepare. A roast takes little preparation, while a simple dessert is fun, especially now that my children are old enough to want to help. Today’s chicken combines the bitterness of chicory with the sweetness of oranges and raisins, while pudding is a deliciously sweet, yet tart upside-down cake that makes the most of the season’s bright pink rhubarb.
Roast chicken with braised chicory, sherry, oranges and raisins
Tender roast chicken and bitter chicory, all offset by earthy sage and sweet fruit. Serves four to six.
1.6kg chicken
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 orange, halved
8 sage leaves
2 bay leaves
70g unsalted butter, half of it softened
6 heads chicory (a mix of white and red, ideally), cut in half lengthways
2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
A grating of nutmeg
4 tbsp raisins
150ml dry manzanilla or fino
Heat the oven to 240C/475F/gas mark 9. Season the bird’s cavity, then stuff with one orange half, half the sage and a bay leaf. Rub softened butter all over the skin, season generously, then transfer to a large roasting tray and put in the middle of the oven. Immediately turn down the heat to 200C/390F/gas mark 6, and set the timer for 30 minutes.
When the half-hour is up, lift out the chicken and lay in the chicory cut side down. Break up the butter and add to the tray with the garlic and the remaining bay leaf and sage. Season well, grate over a little nutmeg, sit the chicken on top and return to the oven for 20 minutes.
After that time has passed, take the tray briefly from the oven, lift out the chicken and gently turn over the chicory. Put the chicken back on top, squeeze over the juice from the second half-orange, scatter in the raisins and pour on the sherry. Roast for a final 30 minutes, by which time the chicory should be soft and the chicken beautifully tender (check the juices run clear). Cover, leave to rest for 10 minutes, carve and serve with buttery mash.
Rhubarb upside-down cake
I could never get bored with the beautifully iridescent, pink rhubarb during its short season. Here, I use it to make a refreshingly tart and very pretty upside-down cake. Serves eight to 10.
200g unsalted butter, softened
225g caster sugar
3 medium eggs
75g self-raising flour
½ tsp vanilla extract
Zest of ½ orange
¼ tsp orange blossom water
½ tsp salt
225g ground almonds
75g quick-cook polenta
Creme fraiche, to serve
For the rhubarb
400g pink forced rhubarb, wiped clean and cut into 3-4cm pieces
2 tbsp Pernod
50g caster sugar
Zest and juice of ½ an orange
½ tsp vanilla extract
Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Put all the rhubarb ingredients in a pan and poach for five to 10 minutes, until the rhubarb is just softened but keeping its shape, then leave to cool.
Grease and line a deep, 20cm-diameter cake tin (not loose-bottomed, because the cake can ooze caramel). Sprinkle 50g caster sugar over the base of the tin. Gently lift all but two slices of rhubarb out of the syrup and arrange neatly in the tin. Beat the remaining sugar and butter until pale and fluffy, then beat in the eggs one by one, adding a little flour with each egg. Stir in the vanilla, orange zest and orange blossom water, then sift in the rest of the flour and the salt. Add the almonds and polenta, and fold with a large spoon until combined but not overworked.
Spoon the batter on top of the rhubarb and level out with a palette knife (take care not to dislodge the rhubarb). Bake on the middle shelf for 35-40 minutes, until the cake is firm and a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for five minutes. then flip out on to a wire rack. Sit a plate underneath to catch any syrup. Once the cake is completely cool, transfer to a serving plate.
Put the remaining rhubarb and juices in a pan and reduce by a third. Serve slices of the cake with dollops of creme fraiche and the pink rhubarb syrup drizzled over.
And for the rest of the week…
If you are vegetarian, try the chicory without the chicken – it makes a delicious plateful to have on its own or on top of mashed potatoes (or mashed celeriac and potatoes); it’s lovely sprinkled with breadcrumbs and parmesan, and flashed under a hot grill for a few minutes, too. Leftover sage makes one of the simplest and best pasta toppings – burnt butter and crisp sage can adorn everything from plain spaghetti to ravioli: try it on top of a butternut squash and walnut lasagne, say, or tossed into spaghetti with blue cheese and breadcrumbs. I love poached rhubarb for breakfast, so would be inclined to double the recipe, using honey instead of sugar, if you prefer, and adding the juice of two oranges to give you more syrup. Spoon the result over your morning Greek yoghurt and muesli. Or pickle any spare rhubarb and serve it with duck or pork rillettes and watercress salad for an easy, fuss-free starter or light lunch.
Thomasina Miers is co-owner of the Wahaca group of Mexican restaurants.
- This article was edited on 22 February 2016. An earlier version had an errant teaspoon of baking powder listed in the cake ingredients.
