Chicken fattee!

This was something really, really special. We had my dear friends Pierre and Eric to stay for the weekend, big foodies both, and we decided to spend their last evening cooking this amazing Lebanese recipe from my new cookbook, Casa Moro. You roast a chicken with lemon and cloves, butcher it into the 8 pieces, then layer it up on a platter with rice (jazzed up with fried onions, spices and chickpeas), tomato sauce cooked with a cinnamon stick, fried aubergine, garlicky yogurt, toasted pine nuts and coriander. The result is a grand ceremonial feast.

We followed it with an orange and cardamom-scented pistachio tart, also from Casa Moro, served with vanilla ice cream. This probably wouldn't have been the first recipe I would have chosen from the book, but Pierre was mad keen, and he was right. A buttery pastry case is spread with a gooey, fragrant pistachio paste flavoured with orange and cardamom, then baked til it forms a delectable crust. Hard work shelling all those pistachios, but eminently worth it.

There's nothing like an evening spent in the company of true friends. I can't wait to see Pierre and Eric again.