On Francesca’s (Almost Italian) advice, I went to Big W and bought a couple of Yotam Ottolenghi’s cookbooks. They were a bargain (on Australian standards) at $34.00 each. I bought The Cookbook and Plenty. I already had Jerusalem.
Maus was flicking through Plenty, it was still on the coffee table, and piped up, “Did you buy this for Colette for Christmas?” “No, its mine. Why?” I replied. “Its vegetarian,” she smirked. Oh dear!! Maybe I should have opened the book before I bought it 🙂 I am sure there will be some great salads in it. Yotam is famous for his salads.
Ottolenghi The Cookbook, on the other hand, is not vegetarian. I had only given it a quick flick when I spotted a couple of great chicken traybakes. Roast chicken with sumac, za’atar and lemon and roast chicken with saffron, hazelnuts and honey. Maus’ sister, Pauline, was coming to dinner so I let Maus choose which we would try. She chose the latter. It was great, and dead easy to put together. We will definitely be making it again.
I also made a wonderful salad to go with it from Jerusalem – Baby spinach salad with dates & almonds. I intended to do a post on it but my photo does not do it justice. If I don’t end up doing a post, check it out anyway. It is a great recipe. It is on page 30.
Ingredients:
- 1 large free-range chicken cut into serving pieces. I cut down either side of the backbone (keeping it for stock) and down the centre of the breast bone. I then separate the breast from the thigh, separate the drumsticks, remove the wings (keeping them for another day) and cut the breast in two.
- 2 onions, roughly chopped
- 4 tbs* olive oil
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- a generous pinch of saffron strands
- juice of 1 lemon
- 4 tbs* cold water
- 2 tsp coarse sea salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 100g unskinned hazelnuts
- 70g honey
- 2 tbs* rosewater
- 2 spring onions, roughly chopped
*These are 15 mil tablespoons.
Method
- In a large bowl, mix the chicken pieces with the onions, olive oil, ginger, cinnamon, saffron, lemon juice, water, salt and pepper. Leave to marinate for, at least, an hour or overnight in the fridge.
- Preheat the oven to 190°C.
- Spread the hazelnuts out on a baking sheet and toast for 10 minutes. Even though the recipe didn’t say to: once the hazelnuts were roasted, I rubbed them in an old tea towel to remove the skins.
- Chop the roasted hazelnuts coarsely and set aside.
- Transfer the chicken and marinade to a baking dish large enough to accommodate everything comfortably. Arrange the chicken pieces skin side up.
- Bake in preheated oven for about 35 minutes.
- While the chicken is roasting, mix the honey, rosewater and nuts together.
- Remove the chicken from the oven and spread the nut mixture over each piece of chicken.
- Return to the oven for 5 to 10 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the nuts are golden brown.
- Garnish with the chopped spring onions and serve.
Passion Fruit Garden 
Oooooh, how did I miss this post!? Delicious as always, Glenda, and what bargains!
Hi Liz, they were a bargain. This is one great recipe.
Reblogged this on Chef Ceaser and commented:
Use Kosher Chicken
I first heard of Ottolenghi from you Glenda and in recent weeks the name, recipes and comments on his book and even something on TV keep coming up ….. so…. I think the universe is telling me to hit the Big W shelves. Thanks for another great post.
Hi Deb, They are still at Big W, I was there the other day and all three books were still available.
Oh I am definitely giving this chicken a try, the honey and hazelnuts grabbed my attention. I was just wondering where you’ve been and noticed your comment on Celia’s post. Popped over here to see that you have been posting and I haven’t been getting the notices. I’m going to hit follow again to see if that works but it seems to be happening a lot lately on WordPress for some reason.
Hi Diane, the same thing happens to me. I follow lots of blogs but don’t get notifications of some posts others I get notifications all the time. I don’t get it.
I don’t get it either because I had been getting emails when you posting then they just stopped. I figured you were on vacation until I noticed your comments on Celia’s post. I just hit follow again on yours so we’ll see what happens.
This really does sound good, Glenda. I’ve limited experience with Ottolenghi’s recipes but, those I’ve tried have all been worthwhile. I’ve yet to have a bad experience, which I can’t say about most published chefs. I’m pinning this for a future cold Winter’s day, when I’ll need a warm kitchen filled with a great aroma.
Hi John, it tastes great and is very simple, which I like most days.
looks yum will have to try it!
Emily xxx
Its a good one, Em.
this looks great. I’m not a fan of hazelnuts but I love the idea of saffron in the marinade and the honey and rose water glaze. Yum.
Thanks Lona.
Yum. I just know Ottolenghi will end up in my cookbook collection and as thinking of buying Plenty, but Ottolenghi The Cookbook sounds it would suit us better, although I’ll probably end up buying both, and more…
Now you are talking Ella, Big W is the place to go for Ottolenghi at the moment.