• 1 whole very, very good chicken, roughly 1.5kg in weight
• 3 soup spoons olive oil
• 1–2 different blousy lettuces such as Bibb or Webbs
• a small bunch of mint, leaves picked and torn
• a bunch of bright, fresh watercress
• 750g new potatoes, scrubbed and boiled
• 3 soft-boiled organic eggs, peeled and cut in half
• 150g green beans, topped, tailed, boiled and cooled
• 4 ripe tomatoes, cut into quarters or sixths
• a pinch of fresh marjoram, and summer savory too, if possible, leaves carefully picked
• 2 oranges, peeled and segments removed from between each membrane
• 6–8 anchovy fillets
• 1 soup spoon salted capers, soaked for 30 minutes in cold water, then drained
• 24 black olives, Niçoise or Kalamata (stones removed)
• 1 heaped soup spoon chopped flat-leaf parsley

For the slaw with which to dress the dish

• 1 small Savoy cabbage
• the leafy heart of a head of celery
• 6 spring onions
• juice and grated zest of 1 unwaxed orange
• juice and grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon
• 3 soup spoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 soup spoon organic cider vinegar

This ancient dish makes marvellous use of abundant seasonal produce. The ingredients listed will make a copious, splendid salad, so very much worth a great effort. Fear not adding, subtracting, swapping and tailoring the salad with other salads and leaves, herbs and vegetables along the way. Prior to assembly, have ready all the prepared ingredients, each in their own bowl.

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Rub the bird with the 3 soup spoons of olive oil, and season with salt and black pepper. Place in a roasting tin and roast, basting from time to time, for 1 hour, until the juices run clear after piercing the thigh. Let sit until cool. Carve the meat and keep covered. The resulting juices in the pan can be kept for stock or boiled and mixed with the dressing when ready to serve.

To make the slaw, chop the cabbage and celery small. Slice the spring onions thinly. Place in a bowl with the orange and lemon zests and the juice, then add the olive oil and cider vinegar. Season with salt and black pepper and mix very well. Cover and refrigerate.

Place each prepared ingredient in its own bowl.

Clean the cocks in readiness to assemble in a pleasing choreography.

The salad is layered on a bed of lettuce leaves laid hula-hoop-like over the whole of the dish. Strew with the torn mint. Arrange the watercress around the borders of the leaves. Lay the slices of chicken over the leaves. Spoon half the cabbage and celery slaw over the chicken. Tumble on the potatoes, then settle the halves of the soft-boiled eggs in among the potatoes, swiftly following suit with the beans and the tomatoes. Scatter the marjoram on the tomatoes. Reserving the juice, lay the segments of orange over the tomatoes and lay the fillets of anchovy on top. Strew with the capers and then the olives. Add the last of the slaw.

When all is done, strew the salmagundy with the chopped parsley and take to the table.

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