Midweek Meals: Five tasty dinner recipes ready in 20 minutes or less

Fish fingers, chickpea burgers and more

These dishes take 20 minutes or less to prepare.

Spicy Sichuan Pork Noodles

The trick here is to get your green beans nicely blistered in the pan and a good bit of caramelisation on your noodles.

Servings

2

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 8 mins

Total Time

 18 mins

Course

 Main

Cuisine

 Chinese

Ingredients

• For the spicy Asian sauce:

• 1½ tbsp oyster sauce

• 1½ tbsp kecap manis*

• 4 tsp sambal oelek*

• For the noodles:

• 250 g fresh Shanghai or hokkien noodles

• 2 tbsp vegetable oil

• 2 cups (200 g) green beans, ends trimmed and cut in half

• 3 ½ brown onion, finely diced

• 1 garlic clove*, finely minced

• 2 tsp finely minced ginger*

• 200 g pork mince

Method

1. Mix the ingredients for the spicy Asian sauce in a small bowl.

2. Cook the noodles according to the packet directions. Drain, then rinse briefly under tap water. Leave in the colander until ready to use.

3. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large cast-iron frying pan6 over high heat until it is almost smoking. Add the green beans, spreading them out in a single layer. Leave to cook for 2 minutes, stirring only every 30 seconds, until lightly charred and just cooked through. Tip the beans into a bowl and set aside.

4. Cool the frying pan for 15 seconds, then place it back over high heat.

5. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil, then cook the onion, garlic and ginger (if using) for 30 seconds. Add the pork mince and cook, breaking it up with a wooden spoon until it mostly changes from pink to white, about 1 minute. Add 1 tablespoon of the sauce and continue cooking the pork for another 1 minute until it is nicely browned.

6. Add the noodles, green beans and remaining sauce. Toss for 2 minutes with two wooden spoons, ensuring that the noodles get some nice caramelisation.

Perry Street's chickpea burgers

Ready in minutes and full of flavour, these veggie burgers are a great way of introducing one meat-free day to the weekly menu

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 8 mins

Total Time

 18 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 400g chickpeas can, drained

• Zest of 1 lime, plus juice of ½ lemon

• 1 tsp ground cumin

• Small bunch coriander, chopped

• 1 egg

• 100g grated carrot

• 1 medium red onion, ½ diced, ½ sliced

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• To serve:

• 4 small whole-wheat buns

• 1 large tomato, sliced

• ½ cucumber

• Chilli sauce

• Natural yoghurt or crème fraiche

Method

1. In a food processor, pulse the chickpeas, lime zest, juice, cumin, half the coriander, the egg and some seasoning.

2. Scrape into a bowl and mix with 80g of the grated carrot and the diced onions.

3. Form four burgers and press the remaining grated carrots onto both sides and chill for at least 10 minutes.

4. Heat the oil in a frying pan until hot.

5. Fry the burgers for four minutes each side, keeping the heat on medium so they don’t burn.

6. To serve, slice buns and fill with a tomato slice, a burger, a few red onion slices, cucumber slices, a dollop of chilli sauce and the remaining coriander.

Fish Fingers with Garlic Mayo

recipe by:Darina Allen

A perfect after-school dinner

Servings

8

Preparation Time

 5 mins

Cooking Time

 10 mins

Total Time

 15 mins

Course

 Main

Cuisine

 Irish

Ingredients

• 8 pieces fresh haddock, hake or pollock cut into fingers 11.5 x 3cm (4 1/2 x 1 1/4 inch) approximately

• salt and freshly ground black pepper

• white flour, seasoned well with salt, freshly ground pepper and a little cayenne or smoked paprika (optional)

• For the egg wash:

• 2-3 beaten free-range, organic eggs and a little milk

• panko or dried white breadcrumbs

• To serve:

• crunchy little gem lettuce leaves

• For the garlic mayo:

• 225g (8oz) homemade mayonnaise

• 1-4 crushed garlic cloves (depending on size)

Method

1. Add the garlic to the mayonnaise and season to taste.

2. Heat the oil in a deep fry to 180˚C/350°F.

3. Season the fingers of fish with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Then, dip the fish, first into the well-seasoned flour and then into the beaten egg and finally coat evenly all over with the crumbs of your choice. Pat gently to firm up…!

4. Heat some olive oil or clarified butter in a wide frying pan over a medium heat.

5. Cook the fish fingers until golden and crispy on the outside and cooked through into the centre. Drain on kitchen paper.

6. I love to wrap them in crunchy little gem lettuce leaves, add a dollop of garlic mayo (aioli) or your mayo of choice and enjoy.

10-minute naan bread pizza

Naan breads are perfect pizza bases when after-school activities demand a swift dinner

Servings

4

Cooking Time

 13 mins

Total Time

 13 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 4 plain naan breads

• 300g passata

• 400g Mozzarella

• Suggested toppings:

• Pepperoni

• Finely sliced red onion

• Roasted peppers

• Jalapeno peppers

• Sliced olives

• Parmesan

• Rocket

• Pesto

Method

1. Turn the oven on to 200°C with the baking tins inside, preheating while you assemble your pizza. 

2. Sprinkle the naan breads lightly with water before spreading with passata, salt and pepper. Dotting pesto on top of the passata is delicious if you like pesto. 

3. Follow with cheese, and the toppings of your choice. 

4. Bake for ten minutes, until the cheese has melted and the naans are pillowy and crisped at the edges. 

Pasta puttanesca

recipe by:Currabinny Cooks

Whatever the true origins of puttanesca, it is one of the most flavoursome and lip-smacking sauces made almost entirely from store cupboard ingredients.

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 5 mins

Cooking Time

 12 mins

Total Time

 17 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 8 anchovy fillets, finely chopped

• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed

• Good pinch or two of chilli flakes

• 1 tin of plum tomatoes

• 2 tablespoons of capers

• Handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped

• 200g of pitted Kalamata olives

• Olive oil

• Sea salt and black pepper

• 500g dried pasta ( fusilli or penne)

Method

1. Put the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water over medium heat. While the pasta cooks, heat some oil in a large frying pan over medium low heat.

2. Add the anchovies, garlic and chilli flakes, cooking for a few minutes until everything is bubbling and fragrant. Add a spoonful of pasta water to the pan and turn up the heat slightly. Add the olives, capers and tin of plum tomatoes. Let the contents of the pan bubble away, stirring everything together until well combined.

3. When the pasta is al dente, drain and set aside. Leave the sauce to bubble away for 10 minutes until slightly thickened and the plum tomatoes start to pop and fall apart. Season with sea salt and plenty of black pepper. tip the pasta into the sauce and toss well so that the pasta is well coated in sauce. Scatter the chopped parsley over and serve.