Roast hen and tremendous salads_ Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipes for an alfresco feast

Eating outside generally is a pleasure, so long as every part comes collectively simply so. You may’t management the weather, so it’s helpful to be all around the meals logistics, not least to present your self some flexibility with regard to timings and functions. So, in the present day, I’ve for you: a tray of roast greens which can be pretty much as good straight from the oven as they’re a couple of hours later, spooned out of a container; a bean salad that may be prepped a day forward and dressed as and while you want it; and a complete roast hen, blissful to be served simply as it’s, or chilly in a sandwich.

Roast hen with apricots and preserved lemon (pictured high)

Substitute the apricots for an additional dried fruit, in case you fancy – if it’s agency, simply ensure you rehydrate it in boiling water first. Put together the hen prematurely as much as the purpose when it’s able to go within the oven, then chill till you’re able to cook dinner (in case you do that, take it out of the fridge an hour beforehand).

Prep 10 min

Prepare dinner 1 hr 10 min

Relaxation 30 min

Serves 6

1 x 1.4kg hen

Fantastic sea salt and black pepper

200g mushy dried apricots

1 tsp brown sugar

1½ preserved lemon (25g), flesh discarded, pores and skin roughly chopped (15g internet)

2 tbsp dijon mustard

1 tsp white-wine vinegar

45ml olive oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

4 shallots, peeled, trimmed and halved lengthways (280g)

10g recent thyme sprigs

Warmth the oven to 240C (220C fan)/475F/fuel 9, and season the hen inside and outside with a teaspoon of salt, ensuring you season underneath the pores and skin over the legs and breasts, too.

Put the subsequent seven components in a small meals processor with half a teaspoon of salt and grind of pepper, then blitz to a rough paste. Put 90g of this paste in a small bowl and put aside, and rub the remaining all around the hen – apply a really skinny layer on high of the pores and skin and push the remaining underneath the pores and skin over the breasts and legs. Stuff two shallot halves and many of the thyme contained in the cavity, then put the final sprig of thyme on high of the hen breasts.

Put the remaining shallots in a big roasting pan, pop the hen on high, then roast for 20 minutes, till the pores and skin is golden and crisp. Take out of the oven and switch down the warmth to 190C (170C fan)/375F/fuel 5. Utilizing an oven fabric, rigorously tilt the pan and accumulate one and a half to 2 tablespoons of hen fats, then stir this into the reserved apricot paste.

Unfold all of the remaining paste over the hen’s breasts, then return the pan to the oven and roast for 35 minutes extra, till the hen is cooked via and the juices run clear.

Take away from the oven, go away to relaxation for half-hour, then serve straight from the pan with the pan juices spooned on high.

Roast fennel and tomatoes with chickpeas and black olives

Yotam Ottolenghi’s roast fennel and tomatoes with chickpeas and black olives.

To my thoughts, that is an much more good summer time aspect than a tomato salad. It may be made within the one tray, and pairs very effectively with crusty bread or pasta; in actual fact, it hits all of the spots. Serve heat or at room temperature.

Prep 25 min

Prepare dinner 35 min

Serves 6

550g blended tomatoes, giant ones minimize in half and small ones left complete

1 x 400g tin chickpeas, drained (reserve the liquid for in the present day’s closing recipe)

7 garlic cloves, peeled

2-3 fennel bulbs (400g), trimmed, exhausting stems discarded, bulbs minimize in half

30ml balsamic vinegar, ideally a Spanish pedro ximénez-based one – I used Sotaroni from Brindisa

60ml olive oil

1½ tsp maple syrup

Fantastic sea salt and black pepper

1¼ tsp fennel seeds, toasted and frivolously floor

1 tsp chilli flakes

For the herb dressing

30g basil leaves

20g flat-leaf parsley leaves

75ml olive oil

15ml recent lemon juice (ie, from 1 lemon)

30g pitted black olives, finely chopped

Warmth the oven to 240C (220C fan)/475F/fuel 9. Put the tomatoes, chickpeas, garlic and fennel in a big roasting tray, drizzle over the vinegar, oil and maple syrup, then season with a teaspoon and 1 / 4 of salt and grind of black pepper. Combine gently to coat, then organize the tomatoes and fennel minimize aspect up within the tray. Roast for half-hour, till mushy and properly charred in locations.

Simply earlier than serving, make the dressing. Finely chop the herbs and put them in a medium bowl with the oil, lemon juice, olives, an eighth of a teaspoon of salt and loads of black pepper. In a small bowl, combine the fennel seeds and chilli flakes, then stir half of them into the dressing. Spoon half the dressing over the cooked greens, sprinkle the remainder of the fennel and chilli combination on high, then serve with the remaining dressing in a bowl on the aspect.

Inexperienced bean salad with aquafaba aïoli

Yotam Ottolenghi’s inexperienced bean salad with aquafaba aïoli.

The combination of cooked and uncooked beans right here makes this dish fall someplace between a salad and a slaw – each of that are, in fact, nice additions to any summer time lunch unfold. I made the aïoli with leftover aquafaba from the fennel bake above, however in case you don’t have any handy, use shop-bought aquafaba or an egg yolk as an alternative.

Prep20 min

Prepare dinner 10 min

Serves 4-6

For the aïoli

4 tsp aquafaba

1 tsp white-wine vinegar

1 tsp dijon mustard

1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed

Fantastic sea salt and black pepper

100ml olive oil

For the salad

200g effective inexperienced beans, trimmed

180g runner beans, trimmed, minimize into three lengthways, then minimize into 2mm-thin julienne strips

60ml olive oil

50g skin-on almonds

1½ tsp coriander seeds

150g sugar snap peas, minimize lengthways into 3mm-thin strips

150g mangetout, minimize lengthways into 3mm-thin strips

45g spring onions, trimmed and thinly sliced lengthways

10g tarragon, leaves picked

1 lemon, pores and skin peeled into 4 vast strips, then juiced, to get 2 tbsp

First make the aïoli. Put the aquafaba, vinegar, mustard, garlic, an eighth of a teaspoon of salt and grind of pepper in a small meals processor and blitz for 10 seconds. With the motor nonetheless working, drizzle within the oil in a gradual, regular stream till the combination emulsifies and takes on a mayonnaise-like consistency. Switch to a small bowl, cowl and put aside.

Convey a medium saucepan of well-salted water to a boil, drop within the effective beans and runner beans, and cook dinner for 2 minutes, till the runner beans are tender and the effective beans nonetheless have a slight chew. Drain, refresh in loads of chilly or iced water till cool, then drain once more and put aside.

In the meantime, put the oil and almonds in a small pan and cook dinner on a medium warmth, stirring sometimes, for 3 to 5 minutes, till the nuts are golden throughout. Take away with a slotted spoon, go away to chill a bit, then roughly chop. Put the coriander seeds within the scorching oil left within the pan, toast for 30 seconds, then take off the warmth and put aside.

In a big bowl, combine all of the salad components, together with the beans, with a quarter-teaspoon of salt. To serve, layer the salad and aïoli on a platter, marbling the aïoli via the greens, so a few of them are effectively coated and a few vivid inexperienced.