Whole grains add such bolstering sustenance to a stew or casserole, or even a salad, I don't know why I don't use them more often. Pearl barley, stripped of its outer husk, is a gentle way to add bulk to a slow-cooked meat dish; but the nuttier flavour of pot barley, the same thing but with the outer husk left intact, is altogether more interesting. The same goes for wheat: the whole grains that plump up so deliciously in the meaty juices of a chicken stew are something I have been playing with for a while now.
Whole, unmilled grains such as wheat and barley take longer to cook than those that have had their outer husks removed, just as brown rice takes longer to cook than white. In practice this isn't that much longer – maybe twice as long and often less than that. I speed up the process by giving the grains a good boil first. Ido this in unsalted water, as salt has habit of hardening grains if it is added from the start. Once the wheat, rice or barley has softened, you are free to season at will.
This week I made a fine winter dinner with chicken pieces I'd browned in butter then braised to tenderness in chicken stock, lemon and chopped dill. The whole wheat – often sold under the name farro or freekeh or simply whole-grain wheat – can vary in both size and variety. The wheat alone will cover half a dozen different products. Whatever you end up with in your basket, you will find it cooks more quickly with aquick soak beforehand. Some suggest soaking it overnight, but I find that a bit old school. You need only drop the grains into a bowl of warm water for 20-30 minutes to cut the cooking time down to a perfectly reasonable 30-40 minutes.
Taking the salad route instead, Ihave tossed boiled wheat with cooked peas and broad beans, chopped mint and alemony dressing; mixed the wheat with finely chopped roasted root vegetables including beetroot, parsnips and carrots with adressing that included sherry vinegar and walnut oil; and, albeit a while ago, made a salad of wheat, roast chicken, mushrooms and harissa that I really should dig out and make again. The winning way is to use less grain and more of the other ingredients rather than using the wheat as the star ingredient. I make brown-rice salads the same way, too, with the rice adding another texture rather than being the principal ingredient.
Where whole grains really get my vote is when they are married to bright-tasting partners, such as lemon juice or pomegranate seeds. Bright herbs, such as mint and basil, work too, and anything in the citrus line. Sliced blood orange and farro is salad worth making. With this in mind I put quite a lot of lemon in this week's stew – of course the exact amount is up to the cook.
And to finish, I knocked up an open apple tart, one with homemade rough puff pastry. I have been dying to have a go at a quick version of puff pastry ever since I made Dan Lepard's crumbly mince pie at Christmas, and this week I made my own version using muscovado sugar, producing an apple tart of extreme fragility and butteriness with a perfectly golden, crisp base. It made a nice change from readymade puff or homemade shortcrust, and was no trouble at all.
Baked chicken with wheat, lemon and dill
Serves 4
whole wheat 250g
chicken jointed into 8 pieces
butter 30g
rapeseed oil 1 tbsp
chicken stock 400ml
lemon 1, squeezed
dill a small bunch
Put a saucepan of water on to boil. Rinse the wheat in a sieve under running water, tip into the saucepan of boiling water, turn down to a rolling boil and leave until the wheat is almost soft. It should be tender, with a bit of bite left in it, al dente if you like. This will take 25-40 minutes. Drain and set aside. Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6.
Warm the butter and oil in a deep saucepan. Season the chicken with salt and pepper then add to the pan, letting it cook over a moderate heat until the skin is golden. Turn and colour the other side then add the drained wheat, the hot stock and the juice and squeezed shells of the lemon. Place the dish in the oven, covered, and bake for about an hour till the chicken is truly tender. About 15 minutes before the end of cooking, chop the dill and stir it into the stock. Adjust the seasoning with a little salt and pepper if necessary before serving.
Apple and pistachio tart
A delicious free-form tart.
Serves 6-8
self-raising flour 250g, plus a little extra
light muscovado sugar 50g
unsalted butter 175g, cut into small cubes
milk 175ml
apples 4-6 sweet, small
cinnamon a knifepoint
demerara sugar 2 tbsp
orange the juice of 1
pistachios 2 tbsp, shelled
demerara sugar to finish
Put the flour and sugar in a bowl. Cut the cold butter into small dice and stir it in. Mix in enough of the milk to produce a soft, rollable dough, then pat it into a large disc on a floured board and then into a long, thin rectangle. Fold into three lengthways, then chill for 30 minutes. Remove the pastry from the fridge, roll once more into arectangle, then fold in three and refrigerate again for a further half hour.
Without peeling the apples, core them, slice thickly then toss them in the cinnamon, demerara sugar and orange juice. Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6.
Roll the pastry out into a circle measuring roughly 25cm in diameter and slide it on to a lightly oiled, floured or papered baking sheet. Pile the apples into the centre of the pastry, leaving a 1cm wide rim around the edge. Pull the rim up around the edge of the fruit and bake for 30-35 minutes until the pastry is crisp and the fruit is pale gold. Roughly chop the pistachios and scatter them over the apples about 10 minutes before the tart is ready. If any juices have leaked, brush them over the apples. Leave for 10 minutes or so to settle down before slicing into wedges and serving.
Email Nigel at nigel.slater@observer.co.uk or visit guardian.co.uk/profile/nigelslater for all his recipes in one place
