Midweek Meals: Five quick and substantial meals for sunny-weather dining

Tagliatelle, omelettes, salads, quesadillas — and Perry Street's veggie-friendly chickpea burger

Some of our quick and easy recipes.

Caitlin Ruth’s Greek Salad

recipe by:Caitlin Ruth

A tasty salad for school or work lunches

Servings

1

Preparation Time

 5 mins

Total Time

 5 mins

Course

 Side

Cuisine

 Irish

Ingredients

• 5 cherry tomatoes, cut in half

• ¼ cucumber, peeled, seeds scraped out and cut into chunks

• ¼ block feta, crumbled

• 8 kalamata olives, stones removed

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• 1 tbsp wine (or other) vinegar

• Pinch salt

• Pinch dried oregano

• A bit of thinly sliced red onion (optional)

Method

1. Mix all of the ingredients together.

2. Decant into a well-sealed container.

3. Accompany with some baguette that has been buttered.

Tagliatelle with mozzarella and fresh basil

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

A quick, comforting lunch or dinner

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 5 mins

Cooking Time

 15 mins

Total Time

 20 mins

Course

 Main

Cuisine

 Italian

Ingredients

• 350g of dried tagliatelle

• 2 shallots, finely sliced

• 4 cloves garlic, crushed

• 180mls tomato passata

• 1 tsp chopped thyme

• 2 balls mozzarella, cut into large cubes

• A bunch of fresh basil, roughly ripped up

Method

1. Cook your pasta.

2. Sauté the shallots in a dash of olive oil until translucent and add the garlic for the last minute. Add in the passata and thyme. Allow to bubble on a low heat for ten minutes. Season to taste.

3. Toss your pasta in the sauce and toss in the mozzarella and basil. Season and serve.

Mushroom omelette with wild garlic pesto

recipe by:Currabinny Cooks

It is the start of wild garlic season here in Ireland so if you know of a patch, get out there and pick some. We usually take walk down to Phoenix Park where there are several good spots for wild garlic foraging. Some might say omelettes are a little basi

Servings

1

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 5 mins

Total Time

 15 mins

Course

 Main

Cuisine

 Italian

Ingredients

• 3 organic eggs

• 50g butter

• 50ml double cream

• 100g mixed mushrooms, sliced thinly (chestnuts, oysters, chantarelles)

• 40g Gruyere

• Handful of parsley

• Sea salt and black pepper

• for the wild garlic pesto:

• 75g wild garlic, stalks removed

• 30g parsley, stalks removed

• juice of ½ lemon

• 80ml rapeseed oil

• 30g

• Parmesan

• 30g walnuts

• Salt and pepper

Method

1. First, make the pesto. In a food processor, blitz the ingredients for the pesto all together until a smooth paste is formed. You may also of course use a pestle and mortar for more rustic results. Decant into a sterilised jar and pour a little rapeseed oil over the top to seal. Refrigerate until needed.

2. Whisk together the eggs and cream in a bowl and season. Heat the butter in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. When the butter is bubbling add the mushrooms to the pan and fry for a few minutes until the mushroom start to become crispy.

3. Pour in the egg mixture and after a few seconds scatter over the gruyere. Push the cooked edges of the omelette to the centre of the pan, leaving some of the uncooked egg to cook along the edges.

4. Add a little more seasoning along with the chopped parsley. Flip over once, then twice until it is almost in a roll at one side of the pan, lastly flip over completely onto a warm plate.

5. Drizzle a little wild garlic pesto over it and serve with buttered toast.
   
   Picture: Bríd O'Donovan

Chorizo, potato and thyme quesadillas

These herby quesadillas with salty chorizo are deliciously cheesy and endlessly versatile - you can make them with a variety of other fillings from chard and Ricotta to sautéed mushrooms

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 10 mins

Cooking Time

 10 mins

Total Time

 20 mins

Course

 Main

Cuisine

 Mexican

Ingredients

• 200g cooking chorizo, diced

• ½ onion, finely chopped

• 2 garlic cloves, chopped

• 350g potatoes, diced and steamed until tender

• a small bunch of thyme, shredded

• olive oil

• 400g mix of grated cheddar and Mozzarella cheese

• 4 large flour tortillas

Method

1. Heat a heavy-bottomed pan and add the chorizo and onion with a small dash of olive oil. Cook until the onion turns soft and translucent and the chorizo has started to release its oils. Add the garlic and cook for a further 3-4 minutes.

2. Add the potato, turn up the heat and fry for another 5 minutes. Stir in the thyme and season with salt and pepper. Spread the chorizo mix on one half of the tortilla and sprinkle with the cheese mix.

3. Fold the tortilla over so that you have a half moon. Brush it with a little olive oil (so the tortilla doesn’t stick to the pan) and place in hot, dry frying pan or griddle and cook until the cheese is melted and the outside is golden and crisp.

4. Cut into wedges and serve with your favourite table salsa. A mix of extra mature English cheddar and a little grated Mozzarella makes the perfect cheese mix, with the right flavour and gooiness but it is also delicious with a little grated Lancashire cheese added to the mix. 
   This recipe is from Mexican Food Made Simple by Thomasina Miers, published by Hodder & Stoughton

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.