Midweek meals: Five cosy autumn dinners ready in an hour or less

These dishes will warm you up as the days get cooler

Autumn dinners that will warm you up from the inside out

One-pot chicken casserole

recipe by:Derval O'Rourke

With apricots and green olives, this chicken casserole is sure to be a new midweek staple

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 45 mins

Total Time

 55 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 2 onions, finely chopped

• 6 garlic cloves, crushed

• 1 thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• 1 tsp cumin seeds

• ½ tsp paprika

• 4 chicken breasts, cubed

• 2 peppers, deseeded and diced

• 10 apricots, halved

• 10 stoned green olives, halved

• 1 lemon, cut into wedges

• ½ courgette, chopped

• 300ml chicken stock

• salt

• pepper

• handful of mint leaves, chopped

• brown rice to serve

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large casserole over medium heat.

2. Add the onions and cook for 5 minutes, until softened. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for 3 minutes. Add the cinnamon, cumin and paprika and cook for 2 minutes. Stir frequently and add a splash of water if the pan gets dry. 

3. Add the chicken and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in peppers, apricots, olives, lemon, courgette and stock. Reduce the heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and the vegetables are tender. 

4. When you are ready to serve, season to taste. Ladle the stew into warmed serving bowls and sprinkle over the mint. Serve with brown rice.

 

Michael Kelly’s Sausage and Beer Stew

recipe by:Darina Allen

So many of my recipes at this time of the year focus on the available root crops that I have either in the ground or in storage, such as carrots, parsnips, celeriac and beets. You could use celery instead of celeriac, swede instead of squash, etc.

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 30 mins

Total Time

 40 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• olive oil

• 6-8 good-quality dinner sausages

• 2 onions, diced

• 1 leek, trimmed and finely chopped

• 4 cloves garlic, diced

• 2 large carrots, diced

• 1/2 celeriac, diced

• 1 x 330ml (11fl oz) bottle of beer

• 500ml (18fl oz) beef or chicken stock

• 400g (14oz) tin of tomatoes or 2 tablespoons tomato purée

• 2 tbsp chopped herbs (parsley, rosemary and thyme)

• 1 bay leaf

• 1 tbsp mustard (I use Dijon)

• 1/4 squash or pumpkin, peeled and chopped into large chunks

• salt and pepper

• crusty bread or baked potatoes, to serve

Method

1. Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan. Cut the sausages into chunks and fry them for a minute or so on each side, until browned.

2. In the same frying pan, fry the onions, leek, garlic, carrots and celeriac on a gentle heat for about 10 minutes, until soft. Transfer to a heavy saucepan or casserole.

3. Pour the bottle of beer into the frying pan to deglaze the pan, scraping any nice brown bits off the pan with a wooden spatula. Bring to the boil and let it simmer for about 10 minutes to reduce down a little. Add it to the veg with the stock, tomatoes, herbs, bay leaf and mustard.

4. Bring to the boil and then add the squash or pumpkin. Cook for 15 minutes with the lid on.

5. Add the sausages to the saucepan and cook for another 15 minutes.

6. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Check the consistency - leave to simmer for another 10 minutes if it needs to be thickened or add a little boiling water if it's too thick.

7. Serve with crusty bread or baked potatoes.