THE "POWER OF THREE" ONE

Recipes for when you don't want to use a recipe.

Menu to serve 6 people

CHICKEN, WHITE WINE, TOMATOES

PEPPERS, BUTTERMILK, PARMESAN

POTATOES, CORIANDER, GARLIC

GREEN BEANS, SHALLOTS, ANCHOVIES

STRAWBERRIES, OREGANO, GOATS CHEESE

After a period of prolonged, intense recipe following and testing, which is often the way in my line of work, a couple of weeks ago I found myself planning a dinner party. I was sick of prescriptive cooking. I wanted to feel my way, let my senses and intuition guide me. I didn’t want to plan too much and I wanted it to be simple. I found myself falling back to the way I cook when I go home to my parents house. I’ve actually written about this before in The Garden Party One. I don’t always know what will be on hand in their kitchen and I know I won’t have much time to do long winded processes, especially with hungry dads and brothers snapping at my heels. I let the Power of Three take over. Yes, this is very much a Charmed reference, thank you for noticing, but it is also one of my favourite cooking problem solvers. Generally speaking I find creating dishes easier when I think of one main ingredient and then two that follow as complementary elements, enhancing or reacting with the star to make a complete dish. Moreover, I think of it as a formula rather than a recipe, and the formula will change depending on the main ingredients requirements. Formula cooking is a really fun way of looking at things, especially if you are the kind of person who doesn’t get on well with precise instructions and weights. Julia Turshen has long written about the merits of formula cooking and always shares fantastic charts about how to approach different dishes. Her breakdowns are what inspired me to try and write about this kind of cooking - the kind where you don’t really use a recipe. It is worth saying that naturally you can’t be restricted to only use three ingredients, that would be really hard. You select three to be your focus, then you use whatever else you might need to get you to a good place, like oil, butter, salt, pepper, vinegar or lemon for example. Think of the Power of Three as a girl band, perhaps Destiny's Child. So with our main dish in this menu the Chicken is Beyoncé. The White Wine and Tomatoes are Kelly and Michelle. The oil, salt, pepper and time in the oven are the producers, backing dancers, record label and excellent matching outfits. 

ANYWAY, back to the menu. I went to the shops the day of my dinner party, bought some lovely free range chicken thighs and wondered what I could cook to go with them. Meat needs two veg of course! But in this case, meat, two veg and ALSO potatoes, because I count potatoes as more of a carb than a veg, which means I get to have them always. I figured a green veg was needed and so was some sort of roasted veg that could be relatively hands off. Finally for pudding I was in the mood for strawberries, which are not only now in season but also require minimal effort yet still can be beautiful and interesting. A bowl of stunning ripe fruit is a lifesaver when you want to deliver on a pudding without having to do much. I then thought about each of those ingredients and what should go with them - what was going to be their Kelly and Michelle. I will go into their formulas more specifically in their recipes but hopefully this gives some insight into how my mind works when I am cooking like this and when I am creating recipes. With any luck the formulas and The Power of Three prove useful to you too when you don’t feel like following a recipe either. 

Regarding my normal Dinner Party format - these recipes are all so easy and quick that you shouldn’t need to get ahead too much - the earliest you need to start is three hours before. Plus, it’s hard to predict when to do things when you might be doing a different version. Therefore I am not including a normal timeplan and mise-en-place this week - it is a bit more of a general guide of how to use your time. I have added any additional make ahead info at the bottom of each recipe should you wish to really plan it. All substitutions are already listed in the recipe so I have left that out. As far as amounts go where it is useful to say how much of something is needed I have, but I have tried not to be too prescriptive. Similarly, without knowing which way you are going ingredients wise I am skipping a styling guide for this week.

A FORMULA FOR CHICKEN 

When I want an easy cut of meat to feed a fair few, I always reach for chicken thighs. They are the best part of the bird to cook with as they are lined with fat and the bone in the middle keeps them moist and tender while cooking. The meat has tonnes of flavour too, or it should do if it is a proper free range chicken that has actually been walking around. I cannot stress enough how important it is to buy free range if you want to get the best out of your chicken. Anyway, we all bloody love a traybake, chicken thighs especially, so I wanted to show you my formula for a good one. Considering the fact that we actually have 3 sides going on here I don’t need to cook extra veg in this but I do want to kill another bird (so to speak), and that’s a sauce. So for a chicken traybake that makes its own sauce; here is my formula. 

CHICKEN THIGHS + A LIQUID + A SMALL, FLAVOURFUL THING

THE LIQUID - Now, I’ve gone for what I think is the most obvious liquid here and that’s white wine. Chicken and white wine are always best pals. But, there are plenty of other ways to go - chicken stock, red wine, marsala or cider, brandy, vinegar (combine with a bit of stock, it will still taste of vinegar) or double cream.

THE SMALL, FLAVOURFUL THING - If it is also a juicy thing, even better. Chunky, starchy veg do not have a place here - they will work against the creation of a sauce. You are looking for things that have bags of flavour and that soften like a dream. It’s FINALLY tomato season so I used some beautifully sweet cherry tomatoes but there are plenty of options - small, sweet peppers, onions, garlic cloves, mushrooms, thinly sliced leeks, even grapes or peas. OR you can go down the route of something tart - olives, capers are equally brilliant. You absolutely can add a herb here if you like, hard herbs like rosemary, oregano, thyme or bay would be perfect.

CHICKEN, WHITE WINE AND TOMATOES

To serve 6

• 12 - 15 bone in, skin on chicken thighs - if large go for 2 pp, if small go for 3

• Flakey sea salt

• Pepper

• Olive oil

• 1 extra large glass of white wine - roughly 150ml 

• A large punnet of cherry tomatoes

Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan on a medium heat. VERY GENEROUSLY season the chicken thighs with plenty of salt and pepper. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Brown the chicken skin side down in batches - this is worth taking a while over. You want to cook the chicken skin until it is a deep golden and this can take up to 10 minutes. It’s ok to only brown one side though. Place the browned pieces skin side up in one or two oven trays depending on how big your tray is. Take whatever juicy thing you are using and chop it up if necessary (I didn’t bother with my tomatoes). Arrange the veg around the chicken (but not touching the skin). Carefully pour in the liquid - you want it to come up about 1 third of the height of the tray. Try to avoid pouring it on the skin. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes then remove and leave to rest until needed - it will stay warm for up to 1 hour. 

MAKE AHEAD - 

• This is best made on the day in the tray all together.

A FORMULA FOR ROASTED VEG

My mum would always make a tray of roasted vegetables when she needed to feed a crowd and now I too am prone to doing the same. Well roasted veg are fabulous in their own right but giving them a dressing makes for an even more exciting dish to bring to your table. You don’t have to do anything fancy, it’s simply a case of combining a couple of bits from the fridge and creating a creamy, dreamy little topper for our sweet, caramelised veg.

ROASTED VEGETABLES + CREAMY LIQUID + SAVOURY THING

THE VEGETABLE - Now of course you can do a mix but I like to keep my shopping simple and tend to just do one. At this time of year I simply cannot get enough of roasted peppers - they cook, so quickly and release tonnes of wonderful and powerful flavour. Plus they look beautiful too. Other great options are red onions, fennel, courgettes, broccoli, cauliflower, squash or aubergines.

THE CREAMY LIQUID - For me, making a creamy dressing here is a great way of both keeping things simple yet also keeping things interesting. The cooling, thick texture is soothing and sexy with the toasty vegetables. I’ve used buttermilk because I had some in my fridge but natural or greek yoghurt, FULL FAT crème fraiche, sour cream, tahini or coconut cream would all be divine.

THE SAVOURY THING - To add another dimension to your dressing and your veg you will need something punchy. Not to mention the fact that creamy, rich sauces often need a little lift. I would say by default adding a grated clove of garlic is always a good idea, but garlic isn’t quite enough to balance things out. The deep umami of something like parmesan counteracts with the richness of the dressing and the sweetness of the peppers and there’s also something of a caesar vibe about it. However a spice or spice blend would also be excellent here - cumin, turmeric, ras-el-hanout, harissa, baharat to name a few. There are also a few herbs that can intensify savouriness - particularly basil, mint or tarragon so do bare those in mind.

PEPPERS WITH PARMESAN AND BUTTERMILK

• 6 peppers, deseeded and roughly chopped

• Olive oil

• A mug of buttermilk - roughly 

• 1 small clove of garlic, finely grated

• A large knob of good parmesan, finely grated

• salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 200 fan. Drizzle the peppers in the oil and some salt and pepper and spread over a couple of large baking trays. Roast in the oven for 30 - 35 minutes until the peppers are soft, collapsing and starting to caramelise. Combine the dressing ingredients, season and set aside. Let the peppers cool a bit before plating, in fact these are excellent served at room temperature. Serve with dollops of the luxurious dressing.

MAKE AHEAD - 

• You can roast the peppers up to 2 days ahead, simply reheat or bring to room temperature before serving. The same goes for the dressing.

A FORMULA FOR POTATOES

Is it even a British summer meal if you didn’t serve some kind of boiled potato? They are just such an easy side and they are a fabulous blank canvas. I am, of course, a bit biased. You could serve me boiled potatoes with an old shoe and I would still be rapturous about them. Potato salad was one of the first things I learned to make when I was begging my parents to let me cook during the summer holidays and it was actually a brilliant gateway dish. I discovered that with fat (oil, mayonnaise) and a couple of strong flavours (spring onion, mint) potatoes would transform and this broadened my thinking about cooking as a whole. What if the same applied to other things? It did, of course, and now here we are. 

POTATOES + HERB + FLAVOURFUL THING 

THE POTATO - New potatoes are in season now so they are naturally a great choice, but it is worth remembering that a potato without skin will soak up a lot more flavour, and I am not about to ask you to peel new potatoes like a psychopath. A good waxy potato like Desiree or Maris Peer, or just a standard white potato peeled and boiled becomes a sponge for aromatics and that is exactly how I like to use them. 

THE HERB - Something mildly flavoured like potato can take tonnes of fragrance from herbs. Plus, it’s always lovely to turn a non - green thing green, if you know what I mean? I should mention here, you will need to add plenty of some sort of fat here to make a dressing of sorts and to preserve the herb from the heat of the potato - think good olive oil or lots of butter. Soft herbs are preferable here as we aren’t cooking them. Coriander is one of my favourites and it has such a fierce, potent and refreshing aroma that is perfect with the potatoes. Not to mention it balances nicely with the other notes I have going on in the other dishes. This is a good opportunity to look at your menu as a whole and think, what is missing? Here is a little breakdown of soft herb helpers - 

THE FLAVOURFUL THING - If you think about the fact that we are using two things to “dress” the potatoes here, then that should help you understand what is needed from our flavourful thing - a back up note. Alliums work well ie. onion or garlic, as do spicy things like chilli or horseradish or mustard. Pickled bits are also great, like chopped gherkin or capers. Circling back to garlic in particular though, I love grating a garlic clove and letting the hot potatoes gently melt it. It doesn’t get cooked as such but the warmth really wakes up the flavour. With coriander and plenty of good olive oil it might seem super simple but it is a killer combination.

POTATOES WITH CORIANDER AND GARLIC

• 1.2kg waxy potatoes, peeled and chunked

• A mug of good olive oil - around 120ml

• A large bunch of coriander, finely chopped - stalks and all!

• 1 clove of garlic, finely grated

• Plenty of flaky sea salt

Put the potatoes in a pan and cover with cold water. Season well with salt and then bring to the boil. Once boiling, turn down to a simmer and cook for around 10 - 15 minutes until the potatoes are just tender - going a bit slower here stops you from overcooking the edges. While the potatoes are cooking, prep the dressing ingredients and pop them together in a bowl. Drain the potatoes and then while they are still hot toss them with the dressing. The potatoes are so much more absorbent to flavour while hot so it’s best to do this now. Serve straight away or leave to marinade for an hour or so, these are also great at room temperature.

MAKE AHEAD - 

• These are best made fresh on the day, but can sit covered at room temperature for up to 3 hours.

A FORMULA FOR GREEN VEG 

Meat and two veg is incomplete without something green. Also, being the quickest type of vegetable to cook, they are a cinch when feeding a crowd. As with everything else on this menu they only need a couple of backing singers to transform them. Most green vegetables are on the sweeter side of things, meaning they are fabulous with really strong flavours, particularly something tangy. They can also be a bit drab without a good dose of salty, savoury fat. Similar to salad leaves, the earthy flavour of green veg need a bit of richness. 

GREEN VEG + SOUR THING + SALTY FAT 

THE GREEN VEG - I do love a good green bean especially at this time of year. However if you have broccoli to use up or peas in the freezer then go for it. Savoy or sweetheart cabbage would be great this way as well, or you could even fry off some courgettes.

THE SOUR THING - A bit of pungency is much needed with a sweet vegetable like green beans. I decided to make my own quick pickled shallots for this but you really don’t have to. Chopped pickled onions or garlic, kimchi, olives, pickled peppers or even preserved lemon would all work beautifully. 

THE SALTY FAT - A natural friend of green vegetables is salty, fatty crispy bacon but it’s not always an option. I almost always use butter on my green veg anyway, so adding a handful of anchovies to it and melting it down creates an incredible elixir to coat our beans. If you can’t be bothered to do that then just good salted butter will suffice, or you could add soy sauce or a good whack of worcestershire sauce instead. Cheese is a universally useful salty fat, so if none of the above floats your boat then a showering of finely grated pecorino, parmesan, cheddar or berkswell would be delicious, or perhaps even a couple of tablespoons of gorgonzola melted on top.

GREEN BEANS WITH SHALLOTS AND ANCHOVIES

• 2 packs of fine green beans

• 2 shallots, sliced

• Sherry vinegar to cover

• 50g butter

• 6-8 salted anchovies 

• Salt and pepper

Place the shallots in a bowl and cover with sherry (or red wine vinegar). Add a good pinch of salt and leave to steep for half an hour. Boil the green beans in salted water for 3 - 4 minutes until tender, then drain. While your beans are cooking, melt the butter and the anchovies together on a medium heat. Toss the hot beans in the anchovy butter and then serve immediately with the drained pickled shallots scattered on top. 

MAKE AHEAD - 

• You can make the pickled shallots up to 2 days ahead as with the anchovy butter, just melt it before tossing with the beans.

SUBSTITUTIONS - 

• As above.

A FORMULA FOR AN EASY FRUITY PUDDING

Anothing dinner party idea stolen from my mum - good fruit! She would always prepare a heaping bowl of hulled strawberries, diced mango or ripe melon and it was a gorgeous way to end a meal. Served with something creamy of course. Macerating fruit means you end up with a little bit of a natural sauce and allows you to really draw out the most intense flavour, so I’ve shared my favourite maceration method below. I love using herbs in dessert and they are brilliant when you are trying to improve something without cooking it. In this case our herb turns a bowl of good fruit into a jazzy, snazzy pudding. Our something creamy should also be something a bit tangy and salty, to counteract all that sweetness. So here is my formula for a good fruity pudding. 

MACERATED FRUIT + A HERB + SOMETHING TANGY AND CREAMY 

THE FRUIT - Strawberries are a crowd pleaser and very easy to prepare, plus their flavour after maceration is unparalleled. However they aren’t your only option here - good mango is lovely when macerated, as are peaches, nectarines, plums, kiwis and melon. To macerate you simply combine the fruit with sugar and a tiny bit of acid - the combination will start to break down and marinade the fruit but it won’t dissolve into a puddle as it is never heated. 

THE HERB - Delicacy is key when herbing puddings - too much of your herb will overpower our fruit. I love oregano or marjoram with strawberries - their lemony fragrance really lifts the red richness of the berry. However mint, basil or tarragon are also wonderful with fruit so give them a try too.

SOMETHING TANGY AND CREAMY - You could settle for just greek yoghurt or crème fraiche here, but I love to amp up the savoury with a little bit of soft goats cheese. Your strawberries will taste sweeter and more intense and you also won’t overwhelm you palate with sugar. Goats cheese is best employed when mixed with something else, by itself it is a bit too much. You could also use good quality cream cheese instead.

STRAWBERRIES, OREGANO AND GOATS CHEESE

• 400g strawberries, hulled and quartered

• 3 tbsps icing sugar, sifted

• Zest and juice of half a lemon

• A handful of picked marjoram or oregano leavess

• 100g soft goats cheese

• A large mug of natural yoghurt - around 150ml

• A small pinch of salt

Combine the strawberries with the icing sugar and lemon juice and zest in a bowl. Leave it covered in a warm place to macerate for 2 - 3 hours. Crumble the goats cheese and break it down a bit with a spatula before whisking with the yoghurt and salt. Just before serving, gently stir the oregano leaves through the strawberries. Plate them up next to piles of the goat's cheese yoghurt with their sauce drizzled over. 

MAKE AHEAD - 

• Macerate the strawberries up to 3 hours ahead. You can make the goats cheese yoghurt up to 2 days ahead, just mix well before serving.

TIMEPLAN