Chicken and freekeh tray bake – a Honey & Co recipe

The green durum wheat must be harvested at a particular moment, when the leaves have only just started to dry and the kernels are still soft and milky. When the wheat is later set alight, the high water content will ensure the kernels emerge roasted and lightly smoked rather than burnt. These will then be rubbed by hand and cracked to produce freekeh, a millennia old, well-loved staple throughout the Middle East.

Making freekeh could have started as a way to bridge the gap between the end of winter and the start of summer, the point at which the grain stores are depleted but the wheat is not yet ripe. We like to think of it instead as a way of preserving this exact time of year — the moment in early spring when everything is bright, new and green, and the promise of all the good things the year will bring is still unbroken. That is only one of the reasons we love it so much. It is also the perfect grainy side, with a grassy, smoky taste and knobbly bite. Very well behaved and hard to overcook, it makes a great addition to salads and soups.

A tray bake like this will be an easy thing to bring together, but it has it all. Vegetables, spice and plump chicken pieces on the bone come together to make a delicious little cooking liquid for the freekeh to bathe in. Take the whole thing from the oven to the table as is. You’ll need nothing more than a few sliced cucumbers or tomatoes alongside it to make a simple spring feast that captures this exact moment in time.

Chicken and freekeh tray bake

Serve four, or eight as part of a larger spread

For marinating the chicken

For the tray

1. Mix the chicken pieces with the marinade ingredients and chill in the fridge. Best to leave it overnight if you are organised, but, if not, a couple of hours will do.

2. Heat your oven to 200C (fan assisted), place all the cauliflower florets on a very large roasting dish and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper.

3. Roast for 15 minutes. Then add the carrot, celery and onion pieces, drizzle with a little more oil, salt and pepper. Roast for another 15 minutes.

4. Sprinkle the vegetables with the tablespoon of baharat spice and the raisins (if using) then pour in the boiled freekeh (this pre-boiling is important to remove any chaff) and mix well, spreading the mix around the tray.

5. Add one litre of boiling water then top with the chicken pieces.

6. Return to the oven and roast for another 40 minutes. After this, check your water levels; it should have mostly absorbed but still feel really moist. If it has dried out too much add a few more tablespoons of water at this stage.

7. Sprinkle with the flaked almonds (if using) and return to the oven for five minutes.

8. Serve with plenty of freshly chopped parsley and a few lemon wedges.

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