This recipe says it all. You need no more than a few minutes to load up a couple of freezer bags with ribs and chicken, oils and unguents and then, after a day or so’s untroublesome marinating in the fridge, you tip out the contents into a roasting tray and slot it in the oven. Your input is minimal, but what you get out of it is a big feast that feels homey and welcoming and makes everyone happy, you included.

Serves 6-8

12 pork spare ribs
12 chicken thighs, skin and bone still on
250ml apple juice, as sharp as possible
4 x 15ml tbsp maple syrup
2 x 15ml tbsp vegetable oil
2 x 15ml tbsp soy sauce
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick, halved
6 cloves garlic, unpeeled

Method

1 Put the ribs and chicken pieces in a couple of large freezer bags or into a dish.

2 Add the remaining ingredients, squelching everything together well, before sealing the bag or covering the dish.

3 Leave to marinate in the fridge overnight or up to two days.

4 When the marinating time is up, take the dish out of the fridge and preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6.

5 Pour the contents of the freezer bag into one or two large roasting tins (making sure the chicken is skin side up), place in the oven and cook for about an hour and a quarter, by which time everything should be sticky and glossed conker-brown.

© Nigella Lawson 2007 Nigella Express: Good Food Fast, Chatto & Windus, published on September 6 at £25 (£22 from Times BooksFirst 0870 1608080)

Read The Times Magazine’s interview with Nigella, and find other recipes here

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