Midweek Meals: Five easy family dinner recipes ready in under an hour

Neven Maguire's homemade fish fingers, a speedy bolognese and a vegan 'pulled pork' that will convert even the most committed meat eater

Delicious food shouldn't take all day to prepare.

Chicken Kyiv not Kiev

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

I had not made or eaten this for years, but it seems like the right time to resurrect this 1980s classic

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 20 mins

Cooking Time

 30 mins

Total Time

 50 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

• 125g butter

• 3 cloves garlic

• 4 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

• 1 large egg

• 125g plain flour

• 125g panko breadcrumbs

• 1 tsp smoked paprika

• Salt and fresh ground black pepper

• Olive oil cooking spray

Method

1. Soften the butter at room temperature. Grate the garlic, wash and chop the parsley. Pop the butter, garlic and parsley into a bowl and use a fork to combine it thoroughly. Roll the butter into a sausage shape about eight centimetres long, wrap it in cling film and put in the freezer for about fifteen to twenty minutes to firm it up.

2. Butterfly the chicken breasts. To do this, put one hand on top of the breast and carefully slice through the middle of the breast from one side, without cutting it through completely to the other side. Open the breast up, placing it flat on your chopping board and use a meat mallet or rolling pin to gently pound it until it is about one and a half centimetre thick.

3. When all four chicken breasts are flattened, remove the butter from the freezer. Remove the cling film and cut the butter in half lengthways, and then cut each half lengthways again to make four equally sized pieces of butter. Place a piece of butter in the middle of each piece of chicken. Fold from the sides first and then roll the chicken from end to end, as if making a burrito, to make a tidy parcel. Wrap each portion in cling film, twisting the ends to tighten the parcel and pop them into the freezer for thirty minutes. 

4. Put the flour in a bowl, add some salt and pepper to season. Beat the egg in another bowl. Combine the breadcrumbs and paprika in a third bowl.  When the chicken parcels are well chilled, remove them from the cling film. Set up a little assembly line with the three bowls and dredge each parcel first in the flour, then in the egg and then finally in the breadcrumbs, making sure the chicken is well coated in breadcrumbs. Pop the coated chicken in the fridge for five to ten minutes and heat your air fryer to 200°C.

5. Spray the chicken with a little olive oil and put it in the fryer. Cook for ten minutes, and then spray it again with some olive oil and cook it for another eight minutes. Remove the chicken form the air fryer and let it rest for five minutes before serving.

Speedy bolognese

recipe by:Darina Allen

Don't have time to make a slow-cook bolognese? Try this quick version tonight

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 5 mins

Cooking Time

 20 mins

Total Time

 25 mins

Course

 Main

Cuisine

 Italian

Ingredients

• ½ medium yellow onion

• 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

• 1 tbsp butter

• 450g fresh tomatoes

• 340g ground beef chuck

• salt

• 280g tagliatelle or pappardelle

• 30g Parmesan, freshly grated

Method

1. Peel the onion and finely chop it. Put the olive oil and butter in a 12-inch skillet, add the chopped onion, and place over medium-high heat. Sauté until the onion turns a rich golden colour (about five minutes).

2. While the onion is sautéing, peel the tomatoes and coarsely chop them. When the onion is ready, add the ground beef, season with salt, and cook, stirring, until it has lost its raw colour and just begins to brown (two to three minutes).

3. Add the tomatoes, season them with salt, and cook over medium heat until the liquid the tomatoes release has almost completely evaporated (10-12 minutes).

4. Add about two tablespoons of salt to the boiling pasta water, add the tagliatelle, and stir until all the strands are submerged. Cook until al dente. When the pasta is done, drain well, toss with the sauce and the grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, and serve at once.
   This recipe is from Giuliano Hazan's Thirty Minute Pasta: 100 Quick and Easy Recipes.

Fish fingers and chips

There is a new generation of oil sprays that don’t contain lots of extra additives and are a brilliant way of controlling the amount of oil you use. The spritz allows you to give everything a light, even coating of oil so that there is enough to crisp up

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 5 mins

Cooking Time

 30 mins

Total Time

 35 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 2 large baking potatoes (about 500g (1lb 2oz))

• rapeseed oil, for spraying

• 500g (1lb 2oz) firm white fish fillets, skinned and boned (hake, haddock, pollock or cod)

• 25g (1oz) plain flour

• 2 eggs

• 100g (4oz) panko breadcrumbs

• 1 lemon

• 200g (7oz) thick Greek-style yoghurt

• small handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F/gas mark 6). Cut the potatoes into thick chips and spread out in a baking tin lined with non-stick baking paper. Spray lightly with oil and season with salt. Roast for 20 minutes.

2. Cut the fish into 7.5cm (3in) strips, 2.5cm (1in) wide. Season the flour on a plate. Beat the eggs with a pinch of salt. Put the breadcrumbs in a bowl. Toss the fish in the flour, then using a tongs, dip in the egg and toss in the breadcrumbs.

3. Put the fish fingers on a baking sheet lined with non-stick baking paper and spray with oil. Turn the chips over, then put the fish on the top shelf and roast for 10 minutes. Turn over the fish and cook for another 5 minutes, until golden.

4. Cut the lemon into four wedges for garnish, then squeeze the rest into the yoghurt. Season and snip in the parsley with some scissors, stirring to combine. Put the fish and chips on plates with the yoghurt tartare sauce and lemon wedges.
   
   From Learn To Cook with Neven by Neven Maguire, Gill Books

Chinese sweet and sour chicken

This Chinese takeaway favourite is quick and easy, making it the perfect midweek meal. Substitute pork, prawns or tofu for chicken if you prefer.

Servings

2

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 15 mins

Total Time

 30 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 350g chicken breast, sliced

• 2 level tbsp seasoned cornflour

• 1 garlic clove

• 1 medium sweet green pepper

• 225g tinned pineapple chunks plus the juice

• 1 chicken stock cube

• 300ml water

• 2 tbsp ketchup

• 1 tbsp malt vinegar

• 2 tbsp honey

• 1 tbsp soy sauce

Method

1. Toss the chicken in the cornflour and season wth salt and pepper.

2. Remove the stalk and seeds from the pepper and chop. Drain the pineapple cubes, reserving the juice.

3. Heat the garlic in the oil. Fry the chicken briefly until brown on all sides. Lower the heat and add the chopped pepper and continue cooking over a gentle heat for 10 minutes.

4. Add the pineapple chunks, mushrooms and tomatoes for the last five minutes. Meanwhile, make the sauce by dissolving the chicken stock cube in the boiling water. Mix with ketchup, vinegar, honey and soy sauce.

5. Blend the leftover cornflour from the dish with a little of the pineapple juice and add to the mixture.

6. Bring to the boil and cook for three minutes, stirring all the time. Add it to the chicken and stir well. 
   
   

Vegan pulled pork sandwich

This deliciously tender dish that will fool even the most carnivorous of your friends, with green jackfruit and avocado for enhanced flavour

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 15 mins

Total Time

 30 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 1 tin green unripe jackfruit

• ¼ portion vegan coleslaw

• handful of fresh rocket leaves 

• 4-6 burger buns/bread rolls 

• 1 ripe avocado 

• For the barbecue sauce:

• 2 tsp smoked paprika 

• 3 garlic cloves, crushed 

• 4 tbsp tamari/soya sauce 

• 2 tbsp tomato purée

• 2 tbsp cider vinegar 

• 2 tbsp oil 

• 4 tbsp water 

• 2 tsp maple syrup/agave syrup 

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C.

2. Shred the jackfruit into thin little strips pulling it apart (easiest to use your hands) ensuring to remove any of the seeds or tough ligament type bits as these can be a bit too chewy. Transfer to a colander and rinse under cold water, then spread out on a baking tray.

3. Put all the ingredients for the BBQ sauce into a bowl and mix well together using a fork. Then pour over the jackfruit, mixing very well to cover all the jackfruit (easiest to use your hands).

4. Spread the marinated jackfruit out well on the baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes or until it starts to release a delicious small, brown and crisp up slightly.

5. Into the burger bun/bread roll, add a healthy serving of the ‘pulled pork’ along with the coleslaw and sprigs of rocket. Add the slices of ripe avocado.