Let your children discover how proper tomato soup should taste when it's made fresh, not out of a tin. Make sure you get the best-quality ripest tomatoes possible. For the chicken soup Heston suggests you use chicken wings, but you can also use a carcass or the whole chicken. The celery provides a delicious flavour but leave it out if you want the soup to last for any length of time in the fridge.
Cooking chicken in hay is great fun. The meat steams inside the salt crust and is beautifully moist. There is also the added surprise of carving open the crust to see the chicken nestling in a bed of hay. If you fancy a lighter lunch after the chicken soup try this ratatouille recipe. In the unlikely event there is any left over it also goes very well in sandwiches!
Serve the chicken with either a Potato gratin or some homemade chips. This recipe produces chips that are crisp on the outside and light and fluffy inside. And for those kids who will only eat baked beans with everything try making your own so they can taste the difference between homemade and the tinned variety. Make sure you use the best-quality pulses you can, because if the outer skin is cracked or blemished they will split during cooking.
For the perfect dessert impress your family with Heston’s mother’s recipe for cheesecake. Or you can try a simple Tarte tatin using readymade puff pastry. If children are helping, be careful taking the tart out of the tin as the caramel will be extremely hot straight out of the oven. Serve either dessert with a big scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream.
