Thomasina Miers recipesMain courseThe weekend cook: the wonder of lemon – Thomasina Miers’ recipes
Bring some zing to your autumn cooking with a squeeze or three of citrus, be that in a bowl of pasta with smoked mussels or a comforting chicken biryani
I have a real thing for autumn’s apples and pears, though when I’m cooking with them, I need regular fresh inspiration. Happily, almost as soon as these have lost their novelty, the citrus fruits come into their own. Lemons and limes are especially useful in cooking, adding a bright, vibrant zing to all sorts. This week, I’m using lemons in a ridiculously simple pasta dish, and as the final flourish to an all-in-one biryani that never fails to comfort.
Linguine with smoked mussels, lemon and capers
This dish plays with textures and taste, from the crunchy, garlicky crumbs to the smoky mussels and sharp lemon. Serves four to six.
200g smoked mussels (drained weight)
The zest and juice of ½ lemon
2 tbsp capers in brine, drained
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
200g dark sourdough bread (choose one with a good crust)
3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 large clove garlic, peeled and crushed
1 handful picked flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
400g linguine
In a bowl, combine the mussels, lemon juice and zest, and capers, season and put to one side.
Whizz the bread in a food processor for a few minutes, until you have a mixture of fine and chunky crumbs. Toss these in two tablespoons of oil, to coat, then season generously.
Heat a frying pan on a medium-high flame, then tip in the breadcrumbs and fry, tossing or stirring regularly, for seven to 10 minutes, until golden and crisp. Add the garlic after three or four minutes, so it fries a little and loses its raw flavour. Once the crumbs are golden, turn off the heat and stir in the parsley.
Bring a large pan of salted water to a boil and cook the linguine until al dente. Drain, then toss with the remaining glug of oil, the mussels, lemon, capers and a good grind of pepper. Serve at once topped with the toasted breadcrumbs.
Chicken biryani
I always buy chicken from a source I can trust, for reasons of taste and welfare. Get the best you can afford: it makes a world of difference to this dish. Serves four to six.
1 free-range chicken, jointed (ask the butcher to do this, if need be) or 8 skin-on, bone-in thighs, each cut in half
350g basmati rice (white or brown)
800ml hot chicken stock
3 tbsp ghee (or butter)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 large onions, peeled and finely sliced
2 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds (if you can find it, use black cumin here – it’s glorious stuff)
1 tsp fennel seeds
5 black peppercorns
2 black cardamom
5 green cardamom pods, seeds removed, husks discarded
1 thumb-sized knob fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, peeled
50g ground almonds
8 tbsp Greek yoghurt (not low-fat)
½ tsp turmeric
To serve
60g slivered almonds, gently toasted
1 handful chopped parsley leaves
1 lemon, cut into wedges
Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4 (190C if you don’t have a fan oven). If you have a whole jointed chicken, cut each joint in half and cut each breast into quarters. Put the rice in a saucepan, pour on half the stock, cover and bring to a boil. Cook for eight minutes, then take off the heat and keep covered, so the rice steam dries and par-cooks.
Heat a tablespoon of ghee in a large casserole. Generously season the chicken pieces, then brown all over in batches, cooking them for about five minutes a side, until golden; if required, add a tablespoon of ghee to the pot. Transfer the browned chicken to a plate and cover with foil.
Melt the remaining ghee in the casserole, add the onions, season well and fry for 15 minutes, until they’ve softened and absorbed the meat juices.
While the onions are cooking, gently heat all the spices in a dry frying pan, then crush using a pestle and mortar (or spice grinder). Add the ginger, garlic and half a teaspoon of salt to the ground spices, and crush again until you have a paste. Add this to the frying onions, and cook for three or four minutes more, stirring regularly so the garlic doesn’t catch and burn (which will make it taste bitter).
Stir in the almonds, yoghurt and turmeric, then tip everything into the par-cooked rice pot and stir to combine. Spread a third of the rice over the base of the casserole. Top with the bonier pieces of chicken, then follow with another third of rice. Cover this with the breast meat and finish with the final third of rice. Sprinkle over the rest of the stock (make sure it’s hot), cover with both a tea towel and a lid, and bake for 20-25 minutes, until the chicken is cooked and the rice tender.
Take the pot straight from the oven to the table, and sprinkle the biryani with almonds and parsley. Serve with lemon wedges and some greens (chutney won’t go amiss, either), or follow with a sharp green salad.
And for the rest of the week…
Sourdough has endless uses. When a loaf has gone stale, break it up into small pieces, whizz into crumbs, then spread out on a plate and leave in a warm place to dry. You can then store the crumbs in a jar, to use as a coating for chicken or fish, say, or to turn into crispy fried crumbs whenever you fancy adding some lovely crunch to a dish. Tinned smoked mussels are a great store cupboard standby, not only for rice and pasta dishes, but also for a classy snack/canapé: drain and fry in a light tempura batter, and serve with lemon aïoli. If you come across black cumin, be it in a specialist Asian food store or online, do buy some of this wonderful spice: it livens up everything from scrambled eggs to hot flatbreads topped with salt and extra-virgin olive oil.
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