For a chop free supper
Use the chickpeas straight from the tin, cherry tomatoes un-sliced, some garlic cloves which you can keep whole and mix with the fregula, tinned tomatoes and stock. Still delicious. Or you can add in some olives, some jarred roasted red peppers - torn into smaller strips, sun dried tomatoes or artichoke hearts from a jar. Stir through some torn basil at the end.

For the vegetables
Really anything goes, I love the combination of tomato and aubergine so I always tend to use aubergine. But if you aren’t a fan? Leave it out. 1/2 onion red seems about right for me but again nothing bad will happen if you use the whole thing. Red peppers would work really well, I love courgettes so I always bung them in. I haven’t used garlic today - SHOCKING for me I know?? But of course garlic would be a lovely addition - and some fresh red chilli or dried chilli flakes would also be v good.

Chickpeas
If you’re using lovely jarred ones you can tip them into the tin along with their delicious bean stalk - and then add a splash less of extra stock. But tinned ones I always drain.

Amounts of stock
I’m not meaning to be annoyingly vague about the amount of stock you will need but it will depend on a few things. The size of your roasting tray, the amount of veg, the amount of delicious chicken juices that get added to the veg as the chicken roasts. So check on the it all after half the cooking time, give it a stir, add a splash more liquid if you think it needs it and then know you can also adjust at the end. Just know that there are no wrong answers here - you can have it as brothy or unbrothy as you like so you won’t go wrong.

What on Earth is fregula?
It’s a type of pasta originating in Sardinia, resembling couscous and typically made with semolina flour. You can get it in all supermarkets but if you can’t find any you can always use giant cous cous, or orzo would work well too. Or you can just use the vegetables and chickpeas as the base, add some cannellini beans too maybe, that would be lovely. I did a recipe using it a few weeks back so if you do buy some and need more ideas for how to use it see .

A little extra flourish? Add some Salsa Verde
I didn’t do it today but often I serve this with a drizzle of salsa verde which is also incredibly good. For this just roughly chop the following: 40g basil, 20g mint, 20g parsley, 1 crushed garlic clove, 1 tbsp capers. Then tip into a bowl and add 1/2 lemon and zest, 40ml olive oil, 2 tbsp red wine vinegar, and season well. Drizzle this over the plates and enjoy!

Leftover passata
I know it’s a bit annoying to give instructions for 1/2 tin of something. But for tomatoes or passata I usually just pour leftovers into an ice cube tray and freeze them until hard and then pop them in a freezer bag to have when I’m next making bolognaise or a pasta sauce.

An extra Razzle Dazzle
It’s just occurred to me as I write this that you could really ramp this up a level by adding boursin in at the end. Remove the chicken and let it rest on a board and then add a round of Boursin to the baking tray, add a splash more boiling stock and stir well to combine. Oh my goodness that would be good. Next time, I’m going to do that.