This Nigella Lawson dish is a one-pan, zero-mess delight

By Amy Drew Thompson / Orlando Sentinel

I’ve been wanting to feature this recipe for some time now, as it’s pretty much perfect.

It has few ingredients. It requires one pan that can double as a serving dish. Prep, which can be done up to two days in advance or right before cooking, is virtually zero-mess. It smells fabulous. It looks gorgeous. It will lock in your rep as a slayer in the kitchen who gets it done, even on the busiest days.

Nigella’s dish — crisp chicken, bone-in and juicy, alongside snappy sausages, all beautifully browned — makes for a wonderful low-carb meal alongside green vegetables or a nice salad, all while bringing to life those traditional stuffing-like flavors of sage and onion. I always cut a couple in half to further infuse the meats with whatever yum those you choose are packing.

Generally I go mild or spicy Italian (depending on who’s coming) and have used a turkey version with success on more than one occasion. Next time I might try Lawson’s suggestion of heat-laden Spanish chorizo, which sounds scrumptious.

Unless you’re pointedly abstaining, this dish begs for carbs. I’ve served it with simple rice (I like it sticky), with crusty bread for that lemony jus and on this night for the first time, with olive oil-roasted potatoes, simply seasoned with salt, pepper and fresh sage and thyme. Orzo could be a great pairing, as well.

Simply put, this dish is a looker. Roast it in a pretty pan and it goes from oven to table like a culinary cover girl.

One pan sage and onion chicken & sausage

Regarding the ingredients, I’ve been known to cheat juuuuust a little, using whatever mustard’s in the fridge — deli to Dijon. I generally use fewer sausages, as well (6-8) and cut a couple in half to let the flavors combine during the cook. Regardless of tweaks, this dish is always a crowd pleaser and you can find it here: nigella.com/recipes/one-pan-sage-and-onion-chicken-and-sausage.

1 large onion

½ cup olive oil

2 teaspoons English mustard

1 tablespoon dried sage

1 lemon, cut into eighths

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

4 pound chicken, cut into 10 pieces

12 sausages

2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage (or chives or watercress to serve)

Pepper

Peel and cut the onion into eighths, and put into a freezer bag with the oil, mustard, dried sage, a good grinding of pepper and the Worcestershire sauce. Squeeze juice from lemon wedges into bag and toss them in. Squidge everything around to mix (the mustard needs help to combine) and then add the chicken pieces. Leave to marinate in the fridge overnight, or for up to two days.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Allow the chicken to come to room temperature in its marinade.

Arrange the chicken pieces in a deep roasting tin, skin-side up, with the marinade, including all the bits and pieces, and tuck the sausages around them. Sprinkle the fresh sage leaves over the chicken and sausages and then put the tin into the oven to cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes — though note that fan ovens may cook this more quickly, so do check after 1 hour. Turn the sausages over halfway through to color them evenly.

Arrange the chicken and sausages on a large platter.