Autumn recipes for plum crumble and chicken tray bake

Award-winning Keith West's market stall outside the Enkel Arms off Holloway Road is always tempting. As I was picking out ripe figs, slightly beaded with juice, a woman next to me, doing the same, asked how I eat them.

'Just as they come', I said. 'I slice them, and eat them with olive oil and oregano', she told me. Yes, basil or mint would do too if I didn't have oregano.

That was the evening's first course sorted. But there was also a burrata in the fridge that needed eating. The combination was heavenly; sweet fruit, creamy burrata, peppery oil, fragrant mint.

Figs can be bought from Keith West's stall just off Holloway Road (Image: Frances Bissell)

Earlier I had bought chicken wings to make a batch of stock for the freezer. But the plump meaty joints looked far too good for the stock pot.

With some left-over diced polenta and a few sugardrop tomatoes I made a rather Waitrosey-looking tray bake.  These are not dishes I used to cook very often, but I find their simplicity rather appealing now.

The trick is to choose ingredients which take the same time to cook, and respond well to a medium-hot oven without drying. Apart from chicken wings, chunks of Calabrian sausage and diced pork fillet have worked well for me.

Plums go well in a crumble (Image: Frances Bissell)

Meat balls, too, are an obvious candidate. With fish, I use hake cutlets or home-salted thick cod fillet. These I add when the other ingredients, starch and vegetables, are almost cooked.

As well as diced polenta, I have used fresh potato gnocchi, penne, sliced or broken potatoes, squash and sweet potatoes in various combinations. Broken potatoes are particularly good; the uneven surfaces caramelise well, and also absorb the cooking juices. Use a short, stubby utensil to break them up, peeled or unpeeled.

Vegetable accompaniments which bake well include fennel, chicory, red or white, onions, button mushrooms, small sweet tomatoes, chick peas, cannellini beans, spinach, leeks and, still in season, corn.

Matching meat, vegetables and starch from my  lists gives me an infinite permutation of dishes. For example, when making a lamb tray bake, I would include, with plenty of spices, apricots or prunes, onions and fennel, and add couscous and lemon at the end, for a tray of southern Mediterranean flavours. Diced pork fillet, sweet potatoes and black beans, with a splash or two of hot sauce and a hint of syrup will give a Cuban flavour to the dish.

What oil or liquid to add to the tray bake? With olive oil prices rising there are good alternatives in cold-pressed rapeseed oil and groundnut oil. I use either when making mayonnaise, which I then finish off with a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Stock, wine, aqua faba if you are opening a can of beans, pomegranate juice as an alternative to wine, all work well.

Bay leaves, rosemary, thyme, oregano and other 'woody' herbs are what to use with tray bakes when they go into the oven. And then finish them off before serving with a flourish of fresh parsley, basil, mint, for example, and even toasted pine nuts, cashews, walnuts or flaked almonds as you think fit. 

With the oven on, I might make a crumble, or, as they are in season, simply a dish of roasted and caramelised English plums, to serve with chilled mascarpone or custard.Plum, almond and sloe gin crumble (Image: Frances Bissell)

Plum, sloe gin and almond crumble (serves 4)

750 g Victoria plums,  stoned and halved
100 ml sloe gin
100 g plain flour
75 g chilled butter, diced - or grated if from frozen
50 g  ground almonds
75 g light muscovado sugar
40 g flaked or chopped almonds

Method:

Simmer the plums in the sloe gin for a few minutes.

Sweeten if necessary, but the sloe gin should be sweet enough. Spoon the fruit into individual ramekins. Put the butter and flour in a bowl and, with your fingers, rub lightly together, stir in the ground almonds and sugar, keeping the mixture loose.

Spoon the crumble over the fruit, and scatter the almonds on top. Bake at 200 C, gas mark 6 for 15 minutes. Serve hot or warm, with chilled custard, cream or mascarpone.

Cook's note: Amaretto is an excellent alternative to sloe gin, picking up those same almond flavours. If you prefer not to use alcohol, cook the plums in a simple syrup flavoured with a hint of rose water.

Frances uses chicken wings, herbs polenta or potatoes and baby tomatoes in her tray bake (Image: Frances Bissell)
                  
Chicken tray bake (serves 4)

1 tablespoon olive oil or butter
1 large mild onion, peeled and cut into wedges OR half a dozen peeled and halved shallots
10-12 organic chicken wings
500 g  potatoes, peeled and broken into roughly walnut-size pieces OR
500 g cooked polenta, diced OR
500 g potato gnocchi
180 - 200 g cherry or baby plum tomatoes
50 g Kalamata or other olives 
3 or 4 bay leaves
Sprigs of thyme or rosemary
Garlic - optional, to taste
White wine or broth -see recipe
Seasoning

Method:  

Pre-heat the oven to 180C.

Oil or butter a baking tray. Arrange the onions or shallots on the bottom, then the potatoes. Put the chicken wings on top of them and tuck the tomatoes and olives around the chicken. Distribute the herbs and garlic, if using it, and season lightly.  Add a little dry white wine, or broth, two or three tablespoons. 

Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, until the potatoes are cooked, and the chicken juices run clear. If using gnocchi or polenta, the shorter cooking time will probably be sufficient.

Add more liquid during cooking if the dish looks dry. You can also cover with foil in the latter stages, but be sure to get some nice caramelised edges here and there.

© Frances Bissell 2024. All rights reserved.