My one criticism about The Guardian’s Saturday food supplement, Feast, is that the front covers tend to look very alike. A plate of brightly coloured food, dotted with feta or an egg (think Matisse here for a dollop of something white), seen from above and set on a marble top. Just such a plate was on the cover a few weeks ago but Yotam Ottolenghi’s dish looked special. It tastes delicious and perfect to serve for an impromptu, al fresco meal during lockdown.

20 cherry tomatoes
Olive oil
2-3 red peppers, seeds and stems removed and cut into 1cm wide strips
1 large onion peeled, halved and cut into 1cm wide strips
4 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced very thinly
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
A good squeeze of tomato paste
½ tsp allspice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp cumin seeds (YO used cardamon seeds in their place)
2 tsp paprika
300g basmati rice
Small handful coriander leaves, chopped
½ tsp chilli flakes (optional)
1 lemon
200g feta cheese (optional)

Use a large sauté pan with a lid. Put it on a high heat and, when hot, add the cherry tomatoes. Cook them for five minutes, shaking the pan occasionally so that they become well charred. Transfer them to a bowl.

Clean the pan and put it on a medium heat. Add a few tablespoons of olive oil. Cook the onion and pepper slices for about seven minutes until softened. Season generously, add the garlic and cook for three minutes more.

Add the tomato paste, spices and stir around before adding the rice and cherry tomatoes. You may also want to add a teaspoon or two of sugar if the cherry tomatoes are not very sweet.

Add 750ml boiling water, cover the pan and leave to cook on a very low heat for about 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave, still covered, for 10 minutes.

If you have time, it is a tasty extra to this dish to add chopped segments of the lemon (with the membrane removed) as well as any juice. However, if time is short, just add the lemon juice, as well as a little olive oil, chili flakes (if using), and the chopped coriander.

Feta cheese is perfect dotted on top but may not be necessary if you are serving this rice as an accompaniment.