From the Oven to the Table: Simple dishes that look after themselves

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Made as written, the filling is quite rich but could easily be adjusted by adding sautéed mushrooms, spinach, or other veg to lighten it up.

We love Diana Henry’s style– don’t stress out too much about how it looks, just make sure it’s delicious. I think I’ve made every chicken thigh recipe in the chapter she’s dedicated to them - all easy winners! Diana Henry's "cod with zesty crust" from Pure, Simple Cooking is a favorite and, I think better than this recipe. I cut this in 1/2 using 3 sausages of varying heat levels and the result was a delicious one pot dinner. The second night I made the pistachio relish and that added extra interest though the raw garlic flavor was too strong for me.Oh my - I usually bake rhubarb with orange but the addition of gin and rosemary took this to another level. The shining star is Diana Henry’s From the Oven to the Table, in which she faultlessly delivers highly achievable, boldly flavoured dishes. I've been wanting to try this since I got the book, but recent events have made it difficult to get ingredients. Rather than make labneh, I followed her suggestion to serve Greek yogurt with preserved lemon stirred in, and it was a great accompaniment. I have people over for dinner and was able to start cooking at 5, with it and appetizers and asparagus in the oven by 530.

I transferred it to another pan and finished roasting it at 450 for 10 minutes while I kept the rice warm stove top (it just needed to be covered).The dish itself is fairly mild, even leaving the seeds in the red chillies, and the rice seemed slightly overdone after the specified 40mins cooking time. I suggest you taste the plums before pouring any more rum over the finished dish, as directed in the recipe, to get the balance you prefer.

I made as directed other than using dried oregano in place of the fennel seeds (as suggested by one commenter) and I finished with a mix of Thai basil (LOTS on hand) and parsley. The harissa, spices and preserved lemon mean the prunes are not too sweet: rather, they are rich and savoury, and the whole thing is utterly delicious. That said, all the extras helped make them palatable by adding sweetness, freshness and acidity, so if you DO like roasted radishes then this recipe would definitely be worth a go.

The potatoes took closer to 45 mins before I added the fish, but that happens frequently in my oven. I halved the quantity of potato and lamb, but left the tomatoes, onion and olives the same for two people. I cut my small waxy potatoes (Noirmoutier) into quarters and there was no problem with them cooking in time (I did give the dish an extra 10 minutes because the chicken thighs were huge).