Spring long weekend plans

It may still be Sunday afternoon but I'm already day dreaming about the long weekend that's right around the corner. My parents and brother will be in town to hang out and celebrate my niece's sixth birthday. We've talked about a fish and chip picnic by the lake, a trip to a late night Indonesian diner and we almost always end up at the local gelato shop - because my dad loves it.

My favourite thing to do on a long weekend (or any weekend really) is try a new and slightly more decadent recipe. Next weekend I'm planning to make braised beef short ribs and rice and serve an apple crisp with ice cream for dessert.

If you're planning an extra yummy meal too, I can highly recommend Ottolenghi's chicken marbella (roast chicken with dates, olives and capters) and baked saffron rice. I made both this weekend and we ate them in our friend's sunny backyard.

The best thing about this meal is that you can do most of the prep ahead of time - I marinated the chicken for the full two recommended days, turning it every now and then. The rice bakes in 25 minutes (and has onion, plenty of garlic and saffron) and stays warm, so you can easily bake it before the chicken and pack up both if you're heading to a picnic. It meant we could have a decent Sunday sleep in, blueberry bagels and coffee for brekkie before getting a start on the rice and then roasting the chicken. We were out of the house before 12!

Other plans for next weekend... getting stuck into Three Women (my library reserve finally came good) and a lakeside walk with friends from yoga (with a pit stop for homemade salted miso brownies). The only thing left to do is get through the working week ;) I'll be heading back to Sydney for a couple of days, which has been the best excuse to make a booking at Bella Brutta for pizza.

Have a lovely week!

X

The perfect Sunday dinner

Every now and then I want to roast a chicken on a Sunday night. It's usually a sign that things have been busier than usual, and that comfort food is needed. This salt and pepper roast chicken is super easy and delicious. It comes from The New York Times and food blogger Molly Yeh described it as a magical recipe on Radio Cherry Bombe because all you do is season the chicken the night before and then roast it.

I happened to make mine right after watching the Heat episode of Salt, Fat, Acid Heat. So I took the chicken out of the fridge an hour or so before cooking, to let it come to room temperature, and cooked it with the drumsticks facing the back and it came out super tender, with extra-crispy skin. Success!

It accidentally became an awesome dinner because I also needed to make Hetty McKinnon's roast caprese salad before the weekend was up. I'd commissioned the recipe for ABC Life, and always try them before they're published, because it helps with the editing process.

While the meal feels fancy, I made the salad in the afternoon, as part of my regular Sunday lunch prep for the week and then  assembled it at the last minute, while the chicken was cooling. Buying mozzarella always makes me cringe (it costs a bomb!) but it made the salad hearty enough that we could just eat it with the chicken, no potatoes needed.

Finally, dessert. Crumble is one of my all time favourite comfort foods and this one is extra special. I am lucky enough to work with Thalia Ho, who writes a beautiful baking blog Butter & Brioche. She writes a monthly baking column for ABC Life.

When we were brainstorming recipes earlier this year, I mentioned an amazing summer crumble I had on the last night of a south coast holiday. It couldn't remember exactly what was in it, only the fruit was lighter than usual and that it was floral.

Thalia came up with this pear and blueberry crumble with earl grey tea leaves and lemon zest mixed into the topping. I thought my sister-in-law's apple crumble was the only recipe I'd ever need in that department, but this one is crazy good. The pear goes super soft, and the filling goes a deep purple colour as the blueberries cook. It was also a good excuse to buy some take away vanilla ice cream from the gelato shop in town.

We've just figured out that Christmas will be spent in Canberra this year, with my whole family visiting! Every now and then I think about what we might eat, and this whole dinner is an option in my mind. Maybe with Christmas cake at the end instead of crumble. In any case, I highly recommend all three dishes individually - and eaten together, you'll probably go to bed very happy.