Try It This Way: Late-Summer Chicken Traybake

Colourful, simple and all cooked in one tray — this is a great way to make the most of late-summer vegetables while the evenings are beginning to turn a little cooler.

Serves 4

You’ll need:

4 chicken breasts or 8 boneless chicken thighs
400g cherry tomatoes
2 courgettes, cut into thick slices
2 peppers, roughly chopped
1 red onion, cut into wedges
3 garlic cloves, lightly crushed
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dried oregano or a few sprigs of fresh thyme
1 lemon
Salt and black pepper

Method:

Heat the oven to 190°C fan / 210°C conventional.

Place the courgettes, peppers, onion, tomatoes and garlic in a large roasting tray. Drizzle with the olive oil, add the herbs, season and toss everything together.

Nestle the chicken amongst the vegetables, season well and squeeze over half the lemon.

Roast for around 30–40 minutes, depending on the cut and thickness of the chicken, turning the vegetables once during cooking. Check the thickest part of the chicken with a thermometer before serving — it should reach a minimum core temperature of 75°C.

Finish with a squeeze of the remaining lemon and a few fresh herbs if you have them.

Serve straight from the tray with crusty bread to soak up all those tomatoey cooking juices.

Back To News & Recipes

Why Seasonality Still Matters

There’s something special about enjoying food when its time has come.

When Everything Is Available All Year

Walk into a supermarket today and it can be difficult to tell what month it is. Strawberries in winter, asparagus in autumn and tomatoes all year round — we’ve become accustomed to having almost anything we want, whenever we want it.

There’s a lot to appreciate about that convenience. But there’s also something special about waiting for foods to come into their own — the first new potatoes, summer berries at their sweetest, peas fresh from the pod or the arrival of apples as autumn approaches.

Eating seasonally doesn’t mean following a strict set of rules or giving up the foods you enjoy. It’s simply about noticing what’s particularly good at that moment and making the most of it while it’s there.

Because when an ingredient is genuinely at its best, sometimes the simplest thing you can do is let it speak for itself.

Food at Its Best

There’s a reason we look forward to certain foods at particular times of year. When fruit and vegetables are naturally in season, they can be at their most flavoursome — ripe tomatoes that actually taste of tomatoes, sweet summer berries or crisp apples as we move into autumn.

Seasonality also brings variety to the kitchen. Instead of reaching for the same ingredients every week, the changing year gives us a reason to cook differently and rediscover things we might not have eaten for months.

And often, ingredients at their best don’t need much interference. Good tomatoes with a little salt and olive oil, freshly picked peas with butter, or seasonal vegetables simply roasted with herbs can be some of the most enjoyable things on the plate.

Sometimes good cooking is less about adding more and more — and more about starting with something good.

The Seasons Change the Way We Cook

It isn’t only the ingredients that change with the seasons — the way we want to eat changes too.

In summer, cooking tends to become lighter and simpler. Barbecues come out, salads become part of dinner, and meals are built around quick-cooking cuts, fresh vegetables and bright flavours.

Then the days begin to shorten and something shifts. Roasting trays come back out, casseroles start bubbling away and we find ourselves reaching for ingredients that suit slower, warmer cooking. Root vegetables, mushrooms, herbs and richer flavours begin to feel right again.

That natural change is one of the pleasures of cooking through the year. A slow-braised dish might not have much appeal on a hot July evening, just as a light summer salad doesn’t always hit the spot on a cold November night.

Following the seasons, even loosely, keeps cooking interesting — and gives us something new to look forward to as one part of the year gives way to the next.

Late Summer, Early Autumn

The end of August is an interesting time in the kitchen. Summer hasn’t quite disappeared, but there are little signs that autumn is on its way.

There’s still plenty to enjoy from the warmer months — tomatoes, courgettes, sweetcorn, berries and fresh herbs — while apples, pears, plums and the first of the more autumnal vegetables begin to take their place alongside them.

It’s a great time for cooking because you can have a foot in both seasons. A warm evening might still call for something from the barbecue with a colourful salad, while a cooler day suddenly makes a roast or traybake sound much more appealing.

This is also when simple combinations really work: roasted tomatoes with herbs, sweetcorn straight from the cob, pork with apples, or lamb alongside late-summer vegetables.

There’s no need for the calendar to dictate dinner. Just take a look at what’s particularly good right now and let that provide the inspiration.

Seasonality at the Butcher’s Counter

Seasonality at the butcher’s counter works a little differently from fruit and vegetables. Many meats are available throughout the year, but there are still traditions and natural rhythms that influence what we cook and when.

Spring lamb is perhaps the obvious example, while game has its own seasons later in the year. But seasonality can also be as simple as changing the cuts we choose. Summer brings steaks, burgers, kebabs and quick-cooking cuts for the barbecue; cooler weather sees roasting joints, beef shin, lamb neck and other cuts suited to long, slow cooking coming back into their own.

The accompaniments change too. Pork with autumn apples, lamb with spring vegetables or a steak alongside ripe summer tomatoes all show how the butcher’s counter can work naturally with whatever is at its best elsewhere in the kitchen.

It doesn’t mean certain cuts belong to only one part of the year. It’s simply another way of letting the seasons provide a little inspiration for what goes on the plate.

A Seasonal Kitchen

Cooking with the seasons doesn’t need to mean searching out unusual ingredients or completely changing the way you shop. Sometimes it’s simply a case of taking something you already enjoy and pairing it with what’s particularly good at the time.

At this point between summer and autumn, there’s plenty of inspiration around:

Pork with apples and mustard — a classic combination as the new apple crop begins to appear.
Steak with roasted tomatoes and garlic — simple, colourful and perfect while tomatoes are still at their best.
Lamb with courgettes, peppers and fresh herbs — an easy way to make the most of the last of the summer vegetables.
Sausages with buttery mash and seasonal greens — for those first evenings when something a little more comforting feels right.
Chicken with sweetcorn and herb butter — still full of summer flavour and brilliant cooked outside if the weather behaves.

The easiest approach is simply to start with one seasonal ingredient and build dinner around it. You don’t need an entirely seasonal shopping basket to enjoy the best of what’s around.

Enjoy It While It’s Here

Perhaps that’s the real pleasure of seasonality — knowing that not everything has to be at its best all of the time.

There’s something to be said for looking forward to the first strawberries of summer, apples arriving as autumn approaches, comforting roasts when the weather turns, or those first meals cooked outside when spring finally appears.

Of course, modern food shopping means we don’t have to live entirely by the seasons, and few of us would want to. But paying a little more attention to what’s particularly good right now can make everyday cooking more varied, interesting and enjoyable.

So as summer begins to give way to autumn, enjoy the best of both. Cook with what looks good, make the most of it while it’s here — and look forward to whatever comes next.