Chicken tarator. Photo: William Meppem
The glorious Easter break calls for "crowd-worthy" food that can work a crowd and cover the table. Crowd-worthy recipes are adaptable and accommodating, able to bend and stretch up or down according to the numbers landing on the doorstep.
Step up, chicken tarator, a lovely, messy sharing dish of roasted poussin coated with a creamy tahini-rich Syrian-Lebanese tarator sauce and loads of herbs and walnuts. For this, you'll want sumac – a tangy red-berry spice from the Middle East – and pomegranate if you're feeling fancy.
The accompanying cauliflower risoni with preserved lemon and parmesan couldn't be much simpler if it tried. Risoni is a small rice-shaped pasta similar to the Greek orzo or kritharaki – you could sub with pearl barley, quinoa or cracked wheat if you wanted, and it would still please the toughest crowd.
Chicken tarator
4–6 poussin (spatchcock), about 200g each
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dried oregano
sea salt
1 cup fresh pomegranate seeds, optional
Tarator sauce
200g yoghurt
3 tbsp tahini
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp ground cumin
1 garlic clove, finely grated
Herb salad
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
sea salt and pepper
2 good handfuls coriander leaves, chopped
1 good handful mint leaves, chopped
2 good handfuls parsley leaves, chopped
1½ red onion, finely chopped
1 long red chilli, finely chopped
100g walnuts, toasted and chopped
1 tbsp sumac
1. Heat oven to 200C. Rinse and wipe dry the poussin. Using strong kitchen scissors, cut along one side of the backbone, then the other and remove the spine. Place each poussin on a bench skin side up and push down with the heel of your hand to flatten the breastbone. Place on a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil, scatter with oregano and sea salt and bake for 45 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through.
2. To make the tarator sauce, whiz the yoghurt, tahini, lemon juice, cumin and garlic in a mini food processor, adding up to 100ml water until lightly creamy.
3. To make the salad, whisk olive oil and lemon juice, sea salt and pepper. Add the coriander, mint, parsley, onion, chilli, walnuts and sumac, tossing well.
4. To serve, spoon the sauce generously over the poussin and strew with the salad. Scatter with pomegranates, if using, and serve.
Serves 4-6
Tip A poussin is a young chicken, often sold under the name spatchcock. Tarator sauce is also great with roast or grilled chicken, lamb or salmon.
