Green goddess salad / charred lemon houmous

Organising a dinner for six friends at your flat on a Tuesday is a great idea in theory but then you remember you’re in the office and haven’t had a moment to prep. Cue me cruising the aisles of M&S in Southwark at 6pm last night. I was hoping there might be one last rotisserie chicken but the hot food oven was decidedly empty and closed, so I huffed and did a lap around the shop with a splitting headache and rethought my plan. The plan had been: rotisserie chicken, fries tossed with furikake and a big green salad. The latter were still possibilities and the former could be if… yep there were some half roast chickens - you know, the ones in plastic containers that parents will buy for a weekend deli lunch (just me?) - and are actually very delicious especially when you chuck them in the oven to warm.

Being the host that I am, I didn’t want to serve an entirely supermarket-made dinner so my hack for anyone similarly inclined: fries and chicken by M&S, salad dressing and dip by you.

This is a meal I’d crave at somewhere like Earl’s or Cactus Club or basically any bar in North America where you’d order an Arnold Palmer. The salad must be big and green and a little creamy. I wasn’t feeling full on Caesar so a green goddess with little gem felt right.

I’m a creature of habit so you’ll notice I’ll get fixated on one type of ingredient and that is the charred lemon, which is a perfect addition to a homemade houmous. It’s citrusy and caramelised so there’s a bittersweetness. Great with carrot stick!

Asked the girls to bring fruit for dinner, so we ended up with a lot of fridge cold pineapple and mango. Perfect.